The Green Bracelet
by Darkwing-Kate
Summary: Stephanie's older cousin Amy comes to Lazytown for a summer visit. Robbie Rotten plans on befriending her in order to convince her to be lazy. But being friends means spending time together, inside and outside. Maybe, just maybe, Amy can show Robbie what life is like when you don't stay inside all day.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright. I'm slightly breaking my rules of only posting completed fics on here, but I've been working on this for like...two years, and I've got little over half of it done. I just really wanted to post it. So I am. The world needs more Lazytown fanfiction.**

 **DISCLAIMER: No, sadly, I do not own Lazytown or any of its characters. I do, however, own Amy. She is MINE!**

 **Enjoy!**

Stephanie stood back to admire her work. The guest room of her Uncle Milford's house was all nice and clean, ready to host. The bed was made, with fresh, green sheets. The floor was devoid of any trash, as was the desk in case her cousin wanted to write. There was even an apple waiting on the fluffed-up pillow, a bright red spot on the greenness.

"Stephanie! Is everything ready?" Uncle Milford called from the kitchen.

"Yes, Uncle!" she replied happily.

"Have you told your friends about Amy's visit?"

Stephanie felt her eyes widen. "I knew I was forgetting something," she mumbled to herself. With that, she ran out of the room, through the kitchen, and out the door. "ByeUncleMilford!"

Milford watched the pink blur rush past and chuckled to himself.

"Heya, Pinky!" Trixie said upon spotting the pink blur heading towards them. Trixie passed the basketball to Ziggy, who threw it towards the goal. It missed, but then a blue blur caught the rebound and threw it. The ball bounced off a bench, then off the ground, then swished through the basket.

"Sportacus!" Ziggy exclaimed, beaming. The blue blur and pink blur stopped at the same time, becoming Sportacus and Stephanie, respectively. Stephanie was slightly out of breath, but Sportacus wasn't even winded.

"What's the rush, Pinky?" Trixie asked, ignoring Stingy as he picked up the basketball with a mutter of "Mine".

"Yeah. You were running pretty fast," Pixel noted, walking to join them from the opposite end of the court. The four kids and Sportacus all looked to Stephanie eagerly. What neither of them noticed was the periscope peering up at them from behind a nearby tree.

Stephanie smiled at them. "I forgot to tell you all that my cousin is coming to visit!" she said with a huge grin.

"What?!" six voices shouted. Stingy dropped his basketball, which bounced towards the periscope and hit it.

Belowground, in his hidden lair, Robbie Rotten's periscope spun from the force of the ball and hit him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Visions of two Stephanies running and jumping around swarmed his brain, horrifying him. "Two of them?" he shouted to himself. "Lazytown can't even handle ONE spunky pink girl!" He looked up at his periscope, which was still spinning slowly. "I have to find this girl before Sportadoofus convinces her to be healthy!" Robbie picked himself up and ran out of his lair, determined to find this mysterious cousin.

Meanwhile, Stephanie was telling her friends all about Amy. "She's older than I am. She's not Uncle Milford's daughter—she's on my mom's side. She's really fun to hang out with, though, and she loves playing."

"She sounds nice," Ziggy said, munching on a lollipop.

"She is! You'll all love her!"

"I'm sure we will," Sportacus agreed with a grin. "I know, why don't we have a welcome party for her?"

Stephanie felt her grin grow even wider. "That's a great idea, Sportacus!"

"I'll bring candy," Ziggy volunteered.

"I'll print some decorations," Pixel said, jumping immediately into the planning.

"I'll get the music," Trixie said.

"I'll bring…" Stingy thought for a moment. "Well, she can't have anything that's mine."

"Stingy…" everyone said, looking at him.

"Fine!" the rich kid huffed. "I'll bring cups and plates."

"What about you, Sportacus?" Stephanie turned to the almost-hero of Lazytown.

Sportacus put a hand to his chin and pondered. "I'll bring sports candy and equipment for games," he finally said.

"Great! We'll set up here in five minutes, okay?" Stephanie looked at all her friends. "Thank you so much for helping with this. I just know Amy will appreciate it." With that, the enthusiastic group split to get their items for the welcoming party.

* * *

While the gang set up and waited for the arrival of Stephanie's cousin, the girl in question was actually wandering around Lazytown.

"I knew I should've called Uncle Milford and told him I was getting here earlier than we thought," she said to herself. She shrugged. "Oh well."

Amy finally spotted a bench in front of a yellow wall. She looked around to see if anyone was nearby, but there were no people in sight. She grinned. "Awesome." She dragged her green suitcase to the bench and plopped down on it. Once she was comfortable, she pulled a green backpack off her back and unzipped it, pulling out a book. "I can totally finish the last three chapters before figuring out where I am."

She didn't sense that she was being watched by none other than Robbie Rotten, the town villain. He was currently spying on her from behind the wall. After all, it was always better to have an idea of what you're dealing with. And Robbie needed to know exactly what this new girl was like.

She seemed to be fond of green, which made him immediately prefer her to Pinky. She was definitely older; Pinky was around 12, and this girl had to be at least 19 or 20. She had medium-length emerald green hair that was in two braids on the sides of her head. To complete the green ensemble, she wore a green quarter-sleeve shirt and light green capris, with green tennis shoes. But she wasn't moving around like Pinky would be. Instead, Robbie noted, she seemed content to sit and read.

Now, reading was still being productive, in its own way, but at least she was being fake lazy.

Robbie straightened. It was time to make a move. He sauntered out from behind the wall, and that's when he saw the bracelet. It was green, so he assumed it was the girl's. She must've dropped it while wandering around. He picked it up, then had an epiphany. What better way to become friends with her and make sure she stayed away from Sportacus than to return a bracelet? That'd definitely make him seem nice!

Amy was only three pages away from finishing her book when a voice spoke. "Is this yours?"

"BAH!" she screamed.

"BAH!" the other person screamed, and fell over. She saw that it was a man with black hair. He wore a dark purple long-sleeved shirt underneath a striped mauve vest with matching pants.

"I am so sorry!" Amy set her book down and jumped to help him up. "I didn't mean to scream at you. I was just really into my book, and then you scared me."

"This is what I get when I try to be the good guy," he muttered.

"What was that?" Amy asked.

"Nothing!" he said, too quickly. Amy wanted to laugh at him, but she didn't want to make him feel bad, so she didn't. Instead she held out a hand, which he looked at suspiciously before accepting it. She pulled him to his feet, where he dusted himself off.

"I'm Amy," she said.

"Robbie Ro—just call me Robbie," he said, still brushing himself off. "So…what brings you to Lazytown?"

Amy sat back down on the bench. "I'm visiting my cousin and my uncle for the summer," she replied.

Robbie pretended to be interested. "And who is your cousin?" he asked.

"Stephanie." Robbie flinched at the name, and Amy let her laugh out this time. "I'm guessing you know her?"

Robbie put a finger to his chin. "Does she wear pink?"

"A lot of it, yes."

"Does she like dancing?"

"All the time!"

"Does she try to ruin a certain individual's plans to make Lazytown lazy like it used to be before she came here?"

"Uhm…" Amy wasn't sure how to answer that last one. "Maybe?"

"Nope. Don't know her. Don't want to, from the sound of it."

Amy let loose a full laugh at the obvious lie. "She's a bit perky, and sometimes it gets a little annoying, but she's a great person."

"Says you."

There was an awkward silence between them, during which Amy kept looking from Robbie to her book. She just wanted to finish it. She had three pages— _three pages_ —left!

Robbie kept looking from his feet to Amy. He half-expected her to jump up and start moving around, but she just sat there, giving no intentions of moving. In fact, she looked like she just wanted to finish her book. "You can read if you want," he finally said. Immediately, her face brightened with a grin. It actually made him want to smile back at her.

"Really? I only have three pages left. It won't take long, I promise!" No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she was reading. Robbie stood there, feeling awkward. Should he sit next to her?

"I'll be right back," he said Amy didn't give any indication that she'd heard him, so he slunk away. He heard music nearby, and he followed it. When he saw the basketball court, he saw that it had been decorated for Amy. A huge 'Welcome' sign was on the goal, and there were balloons and streamers. There was a table with candy, cake, and fruit. One of the brats was at a music stand. The others were standing around, waiting.

"Where's your cousin, Stephanie?" one of the brats, the greedy one, asked. Stephanie shrugged, but she looked slightly worried.

"Boo," a voice whispered next to him.

Robbie jumped and fell over again. Amy stood over him, laughing. She held out a hand, and he took it. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"What happened to reading your book?" he demanded, slightly insulted that she'd snuck up on him.

"Finished it. I toldja, I'm a fast reader." She grinned at him, and once again he felt the insane urge to smile back. He ignored it, instead pointing towards the basketball court.

"I think that's for you," he said.

Amy followed his finger with her eyes, finally spotting the party. "Oh my goodness! Steph threw a party for me? That's so nice of her!" She looked back at him. "Come on! Let's go!"

"Me?" Robbie immediately thought of how everyone would react if he showed up. "No, I can't, I have cake to eat, and—,"

"There's cake there," Amy argued.

"I really shouldn't," he protested, but then Amy grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the party. When their hands touched, he suddenly didn't want her to let go. Any desire to not attend the party left him, and he let her pull him along.

"Hi, guys," Amy said when they reached the rest of them. The group of waiting kids and hero spun around at her appearance.

"AMY!" Stephanie screamed, then ran to her cousin. They hugged, forcing Amy to let go of Robbie's hand, to his—well, what exactly was it? Was he sad about it? No, he couldn't be. But as he watched while Stephanie and Amy embraced, he found himself wondering what it'd be like if she was hugging _him_.

There was a flash of light as someone took a picture. Stephanie pulled away from her cousin. "Guys, this is Amy, my cousin!" she said. Amy waved at her cousin's friends.

"Hi," she said boldly.

"I'm Ziggy," the candy-obsessed kid said, ever the friendliest of the group. He offered Amy a piece of candy, which she accepted.

"Nice to meetcha!" Amy replied. She looked at the others. One in general caught her eye—the only other 'grownup' besides herself and Robbie. He was dressed in sporty clothes, all blue and white, and he had a mustache that stuck straight out. It was funny, actually, in a cute way.

"This is Stingy," Stephanie continued introducing the kids. Amy smiled at Stingy, who reluctantly shook her hand. "And this is Trixie." The pigtailed girl nodded at Amy, who nodded back. "And that's Pixel. He likes computers." Pixel was currently messing with the sound system, trying to make the music louder.

"Hi, Amy," he said.

"Hey there, Pixel," Amy replied, giving him a wave. Then she faced the other man. "And you are?"

"I'm Sportacus!" the almost-hero grinned. He had extremely white teeth, Amy noted. And why was he wearing goggles on his head?

Robbie saw Amy staring at Sportacus, and felt his stomach sink. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want her meeting Sportacus at all. He disliked the hero, but when Amy smiled at him, Robbie felt his dislike grow stronger. What was going on with him?

Amy was still trying to puzzle out the goggles when everyone noticed who had come to the party with her.

"Robbie Rotten!" Stingy exclaimed. They all turned to the villain.

"What? Where?" Robbie looked behind him, then realized they meant him. "Oh, I mean…present?"

"I guess you all know each other already?" Amy asked hesitantly.

"Wait, you know him?" Sportacus asked, pointing from Amy to Robbie.

Amy took a step towards Robbie (which made him smile internally). "Yeah. He's the first person I met when I got here."

"Robbie said hi?" Trixie asked dubiously.

"Well, he actually scared me—"

"That sounds more like him—"

"But I scared him, too, and then we talked a bit. What?" Everyone was staring at her. "It's not like he's a bad guy or anything." There was silence. "Oooor maybe he is? Whatever. We're friends, so it doesn't matter." She turned to Robbie, who looked like he wanted to be far, far away from the situation. "We are friends, right?"

"What?" Robbie blinked and looked at her. She wanted to be friends with him? But hadn't everyone just implied that he wasn't a good guy? "Friends?" She grinned and winked at him. He noticed that she had brown eyes, then shook himself mentally. "Well, I suppose we are." Her smile got even bigger, which he didn't think was possible but it was, and the twirling feeling in his stomach returned.

"Right, then." Amy looked back at the others. "Anyone got a problem with Robbie being here?"

No one said anything.

"Good. He's here on my invite." With that, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the cake. "You said you wanted cake. Here ya go!"

Right at that moment, Pixel got the speakers working better, and music blasted. What followed once the awkwardness was broken was much eating, talking, picture-taking, and dancing. Amy even convinced Robbie to participate in a game of basketball, although it was for a short amount of time. Once the others saw that Robbie wasn't up to anything, they grew much more relaxed.

"I never thought I'd see the day when Robbie Rotten played a game," Sportacus said to Stephanie as they took a sports candy break. Stephanie took a bite of her apple.

"Me neither. I don't know why he is now."

"I think it's your cousin," the slightly-above-average hero replied. Stephanie gave him a questioning look. "Look at them!" he said, gesturing with his head as he took a bite out of a banana.

Stephanie watched Amy and Robbie. They interacted with the other kids, although there was a brief moment when Stingy tried to steal the ball from Robbie, and Robbie wouldn't let go. But the more she watched, the more she noticed that Amy kept looking at Robbie, and Robbie kept looking at Amy. If they happened to be looking at the same time, Amy would smile, and Robbie would fumble with the basketball (usually allowing Trixie to steal it from him). Suddenly, Stephanie gasped.

"Do you think they like each other?" she asked her friend.

Sportacus shrugged. "Maybe. They've only know each other for a day, though." The two watched until Amy shouted at them.

"Hey! Don't just stand around!" Amy then threw the ball towards them. Sportacus leapt into the air and caught it easily, which made Amy's mouth drop open.

Stephanie noticed that Robbie's eyes grew squinty when he saw that Amy was paying attention to Sportacus. She giggled; he liked her cousin. It was obvious. Once Amy returned her gaze towards him, his eyes un-squinted, and he almost smiled. Stephanie giggled some more, and then she had an idea. A brilliant idea.

She ran to Trixie, who was in the middle of the court.

Amy ran past the two girls, ball in hand. She passed it to Sportacus, who threw it and made a basket. He threw the ball back to her, and she threw it to Robbie, who caught it, barely. He stood there, having no idea what to do with the ball.

"Throw it!" she called. Robbie looked at the goal, then closed his eyes and threw the ball. He opened one eye to watch as the ball soared through the air, and when it made it through the goal, he actually whooped, as did everyone else on the court.

At that moment, more dance music began playing. "Everybody grab a partner!" Stephanie shouted, running to join them with Trixie following. Stephanie grabbed Sportacus, Trixie grabbed Ziggy, and Pixel and Stingy stood to the side, refusing to dance. This left Amy and Robbie together. Robbie looked at Amy, who shrugged, then grabbed his hand. What followed was an intense dance party. Stephanie and Sportacus were clearly the better dancers, but Amy and Robbie seemed to be having the most fun.

Robbie hated exercise. He wanted to loaf around, be unhealthy. But for some reason, he was enjoying himself. He was tired from all the playing and dancing, but when Amy smiled at him, he found more energy to keep going. It was weird.

And he loved it. Well, he secretly did, but he felt like he was supposed to hate it, so he kept telling himself that he was having an okay time. Not a fantastic time, just an okay time.

Amy, on the other hand, was exhausted. She'd been traveling all day, and then a surprise party. She was having a great time, yes, but the more she danced, the more tired she got. She was also puzzling over everyone's reaction towards Robbie. They acted like he was a villain to be suspicious of. Why? He didn't seem like a bad guy—he was pretty fun to spend time with. And he was adorkable—adorable in a dorky way. She wanted to continue to spend time with him for the whole summer. When he made the basket, it was as if he'd never done something like that before. When he'd whooped, she'd wanted to hug him—but then the music had played, so instead she grabbed his hand and started dancing.

The music finally ended. Robbie was only slightly tired. He looked to Amy, eager for more, but then she yawned, and he realized that she was tired. Not just tired. She was exhausted. A part of him said to just leave her be, and for him to go home. He ignored that voice and led her to a bench. She slumped down on it instantly.

"I didn't realize how tired I was until now," she said with a chuckle. Robbie looked from her to the table of food. He spotted a banana and suddenly, he remembered how Sportakook kept saying that fruit gave people energy. He rushed to the table and grabbed the banana before grabbing a piece of cake for himself.

"Hungry?" he asked, offering Amy the banana. She reached for it, and to his surprise, grabbed the cake instead.

"Yeah! Thanks," she said, taking a bite. She sighed. "I love cake. Sure, it's not healthy, but sugar is so _good_."

In that moment, Robbie realized that he really liked this new girl. She wasn't as energetic as Pinky and the kids, and she liked sugar. All he needed to do was convince her to eat it all the time, and his job was done! It'd be easy.

"Amy! We're gonna play a game of soccer before it gets dark. Wanna play?" Stephanie asked, joining them.

Amy sighed. "Steph, I'm pretty tired. I'd love to join, but I think I'm just gonna go to Uncle Milford's and chill."

Stephanie hid her disappointment. "Oh. Okay." She smiled. "We can play tomorrow!"

"Yeah," Amy nodded. "I just need a chance to sleep. Tomorrow, I'll be ready to have fun."

Robbie looked from the pink girl to the green girl. He watched as Amy stood up, stretched, then began saying goodbyes to the rest of the kids. She returned to the bench to grab her suitcase and backpack. "Robbie?" she said, tilting her head towards him.

Robbie twitched, not used to people saying his name in a nice way. "Yeah?" he replied, slightly gruff.

"Thanks for hanging with me today." Amy smiled, and this time, instead of resisting it, Robbie smiled back. It felt weird on his face, and it probably looked more like a smirk, but it was genuine. "See you tomorrow?"

"Probably," he answered, still smiling. His face was starting to hurt, but he didn't want to stop, either. Why not?

"Awesome!" And then Amy hugged him. She smelled like a mixture of fruit and candy. Normally, the smell of fruit made him sick, but somehow, the two scents mixed together in a good way. He stood there stiffly. He hated hugs almost as much as he hated Sportacus. He hated it when people touched him, and he hated it when bratty little kids wrapped their arms around him. Amy was not a bratty kid, though. She was older, and she liked cake, and she didn't seem to be as playful as the rest of them.

Maybe, just maybe, he could actually make a friend this summer.

Then the hug ended, Amy's arms were gone, and Robbie was watching her walk towards her uncle's house. He stood there for a moment, staring after her and wondering why he was sad to see her leave. When he turned around, all the other kids were watching him with confused expressions. "What?" he snapped. "I like the color green!"

Trixie snickered, and he ignored her. Instead, he stomped off, ready to go home and eat more junk before finally going to sleep. He pretended that the kids weren't there and that Sportakook was gone, which lifted his mood only slightly.

When he finally reached his lair and sank down into his orange chair, he realized that he still had Amy's green bracelet. Somehow it had wound its way onto his wrist. He stared at it until he fell asleep, all the while thinking about how it was almost the exact same color as Amy's hair.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yay, another chapter! I feel like Mondays and Wednesdays are my update days. (It's cause I'm bored at work, but don't tell anyone!) Here's chapter two! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Do I want to own Lazytown? Yes. Do I actually own Lazytown? No. Amy, however, is mine.**

"Goooood morning!" a bright voice chirped at Amy. She rolled over and curled closer to the wall. "Amy, it's time for breakfast, the most important meal of the day!"

Amy peered over her shoulder to see Stephanie standing by her bed, dressed for the day. "Wha timezit?" Man, she sounded awful in the morning.

"Nine!" Stephanie replied.

Amy repressed a groan. "I thought it was summer."

"It is."

This time Amy did groan. A whole summer of getting up at 9 am? Summers were meant for sleeping in! "Alright. Gimme fifteen."

"Okay!" Stephanie skipped out of the room.

"Urrrgh. Alright, Amy. You can do this." Amy forced herself to sit up. "You can be a morning person for two and a half months." She threw her feet over the side of the bed. "You can do it. S'not hard."

"Hurry up, Amy! Everyone's gonna be ready to play at 9:30!" Stephanie called.

Amy let herself fall back onto the bed. "This is gonna be a long summer."

At last, she managed to get dressed in a lime-green t-shirt and dark green capris. She braided her hair, shoved a small pillow into her backpack (along with another book, a green journal, and a purple blanket—thank goodness her bag seemed bigger on the inside!), and exited her room. In the kitchen, Uncle Milford and Stephanie were making a big breakfast with toast, eggs, and fruit. It actually made Amy feel awkward. Were they doing all this for her? She'd be content with a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Amy!" Uncle Milford greeted.

"Mornin'."

"We have apples, oranges, bananas, and strawberries," Stephanie said, making a plate of eggs and toast and passing it to Amy. "What kind of sportscandy do you want?"

Apparently sportscandy was the new name for fruit in Lazytown. Amy decided to go with it. "Uhm…can I have a banana and an orange?" she asked. Stephanie threw the orange at her, and Amy just barely caught it. Yep, she was definitely still waking up. She immediately began peeling the orange, eager to eat something. Normally she skipped breakfast, but since she was still recovering from traveling all day the previous day, she figured the extra energy would be good for her.

By the time breakfast was over, Amy was ready to go back to bed. It was only 9:30, after all. But somehow, she didn't think she'd be able to. For one, Stephanie seemed extremely eager to play soccer with her friends. For another, Amy'd feel bad if she slept all day. Maybe she could get a nap in during the afternoon.

If she was lucky.

Outside was bright with sunshine. Amy rummaged through her bag and found her favorite pair of sunglasses, which she put on. The rest of the kids were at the basketball court, which was actually just a sports area, she assumed. Two goals were set up, one on each side, and two of the kids were warming up with the soccer ball. Trixie (was that her name?) was stretching off to the side, as was Stephanie. The technological kid (Pixel, she remembered) was messing around on a mini computer, but he smiled at her when he caught her watching him. She smiled back, then started stretching.

"Ready, everyone?" Stephanie called. The other kids shouted their affirmation, while Amy simply nodded. Man, this was going to be a long summer.

She couldn't deny that she was having fun. Once the game started, it went from being a little annoying to being enjoyable. She hadn't played soccer in so long that the kids actually bested her a couple of times. Fortunately, she started getting back into the routine, and then she at least held her ground. It was obvious that they played all the time, because when she was winded, they were slightly tired. It was pretty sad that little kids were in better shape than an almost 21-year-old.

The game went on until lunchtime, by which everyone (Amy included) was starving. They went to Pixel's house for a lunch of PB&Js, and Amy felt her usual tiredness resurface. Lunchtime for her was a prelude to naptime. But how to get away from the kids?

"Amy, we're gonna play videogames after lunch for a while. There's enough controllers for you to join us," Pixel said, noticing that the green girl was done eating.

Amy smiled. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm gonna go outside and read. It's a nice day." And hopefully she could find a place to sleep.

"Are you sure?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, there's plenty of controllers," the short kid in a superhero cape (Ziggy, she reminded herself) said.

"You guys can play. I'll be back around 4, and maybe we can play baseball or something." The kids murmured in agreement, and Amy grinned internally. She picked up her backpack and left the house, ready to find an appropriate nap place.

A few minutes after leaving Pixel's house, she saw a sign outside of a park. "Lazy Park," she read aloud. "Huh. That sounds like a great place for a nap!" She entered the park and immediately spotted a bench. "Perfect!" She skipped to the bench and sat on it, unzipping her backpack to pull out the pillow and blanket. Then she laid down and allowed sleep to take over.

Five minutes after Amy fell asleep, Robbie Rotten approached Lazy Park, his orange pillow and blanket in hand. He, too, was ready for a nap, and Lazy Park was where he usually took one, when those blasted kids weren't being loud. He saw his usual bench and marched over to it—then stopped. Amy was already on the bench, fast asleep! She had a purple pillow and blanket, which contrasted her green attire, he noted. But she was sleeping! On his bench!

He crept closer to her, trying to be sneaky. However, he stepped on a twig, and it snapped. Amy's eyes popped open, and she let loose an, "AAH!" Robbie jumped backwards, but didn't fall over this time.

"I wasn't scared," he protested.

"I didn't say you were." Amy sat up. "Wazzup?"

"You are napping on _my_ bench," he said. Amy looked at where she was sitting.

"Am I? Sorry. It's my DNT—Designated Nap Time. I was just trying to find a good place to sleep, and this seemed good…"

She had a designated time for napping? She didn't want to play around like the others? Was she even really related to Pinky? Robbie had no clue what to think. "I suppose it's alright, if you're not planning on being noisy."

Amy laughed. "I just want peace and quiet so I can get two or three hours of sleep. What can I say?" She shrugged. "I'm lazy."

Robbie flinched at her words. "You…consider yourself lazy?" he asked slowly.

"Well, maybe not all the time. But Steph woke me up at 9, and it's summertime—you're supposed to sleep in, aren't you? We ate a healthy breakfast—,"

Robbie tried not to gag.

"Although I would've been fine with a bowl of cereal or a poptart. Sugar isn't all bad, you know."

Yes, he did know. Sugar was amazing. Amy was amazing. Wait. How had those become connected in his mind? He was a villain! Everybody had told him so, almost every day. He tried to make Lazytown lazy, and that made him the bad guy. Bad guys didn't have friends, and they didn't call people amazing.

He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't see Amy packing up her stuff until she stood up. "Here's your bench back. I'll find another place to nap." She started walking away, but Robbie didn't want her to leave.

"You don't have to go somewhere else," he said to her retreating back.

Amy looked over her shoulder. "Naw, it's all good. I'll find another bench. No worries." She gave a small grin, then continued on her way.

Robbie watched her leave, feeling a sense of sadness with each step she took. He wouldn't have _minded_ if she'd decided to stay. Maybe they could've talked some more about how much fun it was to be lazy, or how delicious sugary foods were.

He sighed dramatically, and placed his pillow on the bench. He laid down on it, pulling his orange blanket up to his chin. Usually he'd be snoring in minutes, but this time was different. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Amy. He tried rolling over, which didn't help at all. No matter what he did, he could not fall sleep!

The sound of children laughing snapped him to attention. He sat up right as the kids, led by Pinky, ran by. With a growl, he stood. "You! You're all being too loud, and you woke me up!"

Stephanie turned and saw Robbie. She frowned. "We just got outside. We've been inside playing video games all afternoon."

Robbie blinked at her. "Oh." Well, now he felt stupid. "Go…play or whatever then. I've got better things to do than stand here talking to you." He spun on his heels and began marching away.

"Hey, Robbie, have you seen Amy? She's supposed to meet us for a game of baseball."

He froze. The last time he'd seen Amy was…when? How long had he been trying to sleep, anyway? Felt like hours. Actually, it probably had been at least two hours. "No. I haven't seen her," he replied stiffly. It was a tiny lie; he _had_ seen her earlier, but that wasn't important for them to know. With that declaration, he continued on his way. He was nearly out of the park when he realized—if Amy was meeting the hooligans for a game, he could always watch them play.

No, what was wrong with him? He hated sports! He hated anything that required moving around. He was a lazy person, not a Sportacus! Even _watching_ sports was exhausting. This Amy girl was making him think differently, and he didn't like it. Not at all. Besides, why would a girl have such an impact on him? Just because she liked some of the same things he did, and she was nice to him, and considered him a friend, and she was pretty—

Pretty? Where had that come from? Robbie shook his head. "This is ridiculous," he muttered. "I need cake."

While Robbie had an internal debate, Amy was chilling on her new bench. She'd gotten a nice nap in (unlike poor Robbie). Once she woke up, she decided to read her next book. All in all, it had been fairly relaxing. Except every now and then, she'd find herself wondering about Robbie. What was he doing? Was he napping? He seemed so nice around her, so why did the others act like he wasn't? What was his favorite kind of cake?

She managed to read the first few chapters before checking the watch she kept in her backpack. It was almost quarter past 4! "Holy cow!" she yelped, then shoved everything into her bag and running around in an attempt to find the others for their game. Only, where had they decided to meet up? Did they even have a place, or had they just agreed to play?

Up in his airship, Sportacus's crystal began to beep. "Someone's in trouble!" he announced to himself, then kicked the button that opened the door to outside. He grabbed his spyglass and peered through it. A girl dressed in all green (Amy, he remembered, Stephanie's older cousin) was wandering around the park, a confused expression on her face. She was obviously a little lost. "Ladder!" he called, and the ladder dropped to the ground. He immediately clambered down, dropping off at the last few rungs. "Are you lost?" he asked the girl.

Amy spun around, startled by the sudden appearance. "Whoa! Don't do that, buddy. I'm a jumpy person." She placed a hand on her chest to slow her breathing.

"Sorry," Sportacus apologized. Amy gave a small huff.

"Don't worry about it. Just try not to do that again."

The slightly-above-average hero smiled. "I won't," he promised. "Now, what are you looking for?"

Amy sighed. Her face grew slightly pink, embarrassed at being lost. "I promised the kids I'd join them in a game of baseball at 4, but I have no idea where they are," she said.

"Ah," Sportacus nodded. "I'll help you find them."

"Thanks." They began walking, and there was a short silence. But then Amy realized this was an excellent opportunity. "So, Sportacus, right?"

"Yes," the blue elf smiled.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Is Robbie really a bad guy?"

Some people, when posed this question, would immediately reply with a "Yes." Sportacus, however, took the time to think it over. Was Robbie Rotten truly a bad person? He thought of all the times Robbie had tried to get Sportacus kicked out of town, and how many times Robbie had almost ruined Lazytown with his schemes. But there were good moments in there as well. He'd returned Stephanie's diary that one time, and he'd come to Stingy's birthday party.

"That's a hard question," he finally answered. Amy's face fell a little. "He has tried to get rid of me many times."

"Why?"

"I guess he just doesn't like me."

"Oh."

"And he has disguised himself to try and get the kids to stop playing sports and being healthy. He wants Lazytown to be lazy, I think." He observed Amy's face. With each word that indicated Robbie was indeed not a very good person, it drooped a little more. So he'd been right yesterday; Amy and Robbie liked each other, at least enough to want to be friends, even though they were very different.

"But," he began, and Amy's face perked up, "while he likes being lazy, I think he can be nice if he wants to be. Stephanie lost her diary once, and he returned it to her."

"That's good!" Amy replied enthusiastically.

"Yes," Sportacus grinned. "I think he just needs a friend."

"Really?"

"Yes!" Amy grinned at the elf, and he beamed back at her. Right then, they came into the clearing with the other kids, who were ready with bats and gloves.

"Amy! Ready to play?" Stephanie called.

"Yeah! Sorry I'm late. I got a little lost, and Sportacus had to help me. Which reminds me." She turned to the elf. "Thank you so much. For everything."

"Anytime," Sportacus answered, still smiling.

"Sportacus, are you gonna play with us?" Ziggy asked.

"If that's alright with you," he replied.

"Can he, Steph?" Ziggy looked to the pink girl, who giggled.

"Of course he can!"

What followed was a tiring but fun game. When the sky finally turned orange and pink with sunset, Amy, Sportacus, and Stephanie all bade the other kids goodnight. Sportacus called for his ladder, and it dropped down to his hands. He waved at the two cousins before climbing up and returning to the airship.

Amy sighed. "I'm tired now."

"Me too. And hungry. Let's go see what's for dinner!" With that, the two cousins made their way back to their home, where a huge (and healthy, Amy noted) meal awaited them.

After they ate, Stephanie went to her room to write in her diary. It seemed like Steph went to bed at 8 every single night, even in the summer. Which was probably why she was up so early all the time. Amy, on the other hand, wasn't even close to tired. Well, she was, but she didn't feel like going to bed yet. So when Stephanie retired to her bedroom, Amy opened the window in the guest bedroom and climbed out. It was a beautiful night—warm and clear, so she could see the stars twinkling above. She could even see Sportacus's airship, a small blob way up in the air.

She stayed outside for about an hour before deciding to go back in. Once back in her room, Amy pulled out her current book and read until she fell asleep, dropping the book on the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's chappie three! Yeah, this one's a long one. But that's fun, isn't it? I think each chapter is progressively longer and longer, at least the rate I'm going with them. Enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own anyone but Amy. Lazytown is not mine. :(**

The days ran together in Lazytown. They had a pretty regular schedule, Amy learned. Wake up, play outside, eat lunch and chill indoors, then go back outside until dinnertime, after which everyone went to bed. She followed the schedule with a few minor changes; instead of playing videogames after lunch, she took naps or read, and instead of going to bed immediately after dinner, she snuck outside and watched the stars.

Robbie was nowhere to be seen, she noticed with disappointment. It had been almost two weeks since she'd arrived, but he had vanished after the nap confrontation. Finally her curiosity got the better of her, and she asked Stephanie where Robbie lived. Stephanie directed her past the woods, but all Amy could see was a huge billboard, not a house. She wandered around for a few minutes before walking up to the billboard and sitting down. She'd brought her bag with her, and pulled out her latest book along with an orange. She scanned the area once more as she began to peel the orange, but upon spotting no sign of Robbie anywhere, she sighed and leaned against the sign…

…and fell right through it.

Fortunately, she retained a grip on the orange and the book, although she was now on her back.

"That was unexpected," she said, then righted herself before examining the back of the huge sign. She saw a blue dome with a ladder, and naturally started towards it. She paused a moment to consider grabbing her bag, nodded to herself, grabbed it, and continued towards the dome and ladder. She climbed up the ladder and lifted the dome, which led to a dark tunnel.

"Hmm. Do I go down the creepy tunnel that leads to who-knows-where, or do I make a smart decision and leave?" Amy stared down the tunnel. A few strands of her green hair had broken free from her braids in the fall, and she brushed them back. The tunnel didn't look _that_ deep. Maybe about twenty feet, thirty. Possibly forty. Probably not forty. She glanced around to make sure that nobody was nearby. Once she confirmed a lack of people, she returned her eyes to the tunnel. "Right, then. Off we pop."

One leg went over the entrance, then the other, followed by Amy's torso and head. She descended into the dimness, but it was nowhere near as deep as it had looked. She had no idea how deep it was, but it felt not-too-deep. Once she reached the end of the ladder, she saw an adjacent tunnel with a light at the end. "Guess I'm going into the light," she muttered, then laughed at herself. It lightened her mood somewhat; at this point, she was more curious than afraid.

She started towards the light. This tunnel was no longer than twenty feet, and it opened into a huge room. She took a few minutes to stare at it: There was blue machinery everywhere. At the far end were five tubes with what looked like costumes in them, including a familiar-looking outfit she recognized as Robbie's. To the left of the tubes was what looked like a piano, and a ramp that to the floor where she stood. In front of the ramp was an orange fuzzy chair, with an orange lamp on its left, a small table with an orange phone on the right, and an orange rung underneath. And there also seemed to be a periscope hanging down by the piano. On the far right of the room was a blue table with tubes and pots on it, with a rickety-looking metal staircase behind it.

"Alrighty then," Amy said, clasping her hands together. "I think I found Robbie's house." She took a few steps into the room, then gave in to her impulse and ran up the ramp to the tubes with costumes. One contained a hairy gorilla costume, which she ignored. The next tube contained a fairy outfit, which intrigued her, but she decided against it. The next tube had a vampire costume (she really liked it, too), but it seemed too scary for summertime. The fourth tube contained Robbie's outfit, which made her smile. And in the final tube was a black-and-white pinstriped suit with black boots. Amy considered it, feeling like it reminded her of something. As she considered it, she leaned against the piano and pressed down on a key. A note played, and she watched as the costume was suddenly sucked down. But then she was spinning around really fast, and it felt weird but she couldn't describe it, and then she stopped spinning.

"Whoa, dizzy," she said, grabbing the railing. She glanced down at her arms. They were no longer bare from her green t-shirt, but covered by long, pinstriped sleeves. As were her legs. And her torso. In fact, it seemed as if she was now _wearing_ the costume she'd been studying mere moments before. "WHOA. Costume change!" She held out her arms and looked over herself. She was wearing a white button-up underneath, with a black tie. Her feet now had military boots on them. And her hair had somehow gotten extremely messy in the spinning process. But there was one thing she didn't quite understand (besides the whole physics of how this device worked): what happened to her clothes?

Upon turning around to face the tube, she got her answer. Her clothes were now in the tube where the suit had been. "That works." The issue now resolved, she continued examining the room. She reached up and grabbed the periscope, wondering where it went, and spotted Stephanie and the other kids in Pixel's house playing videogames through the window. Then she swiveled the periscope around, only to see Uncle Milford chatting with Miss Busybody. "This is kinda weird, but also kinda nifty," she said out loud. She smiled before letting go of the periscope. Then she yawned.

After all, it was her current naptime. What would be the harm in taking a fast catnap in Robbie's home? It wasn't as if she was gonna see him anytime soon; he was probably avoiding her. It wasn't _weird_ or anything if she took a nap here, right? Nah.

That thought in mind, she sauntered over to the fuzzy orange chair, where she promptly sat down with her legs pulled up. The chair itself was really comfortable, and she was soooo sleepy….

At that very moment, Robbie was en route to his home with a bag of groceries in hand.

He had spent the last 12 days figuring out what he was feeling towards Amy. Once he'd realized that she was pretty, he'd gone home and eaten cake to clear his mind. It hadn't helped at all. Instead, he found himself wondering what kind of cake was her favorite, whether she liked candy, if she liked watching TV as much as he did. Soon, his mind went off on a tangent of questions including her favorite book, what did she want to do in life, and if she had a boyfriend waiting for her at home.

The boyfriend question had stayed with him for a long, long time after he thought it. That night, he had dreamed about Amy returning home (which in his dream, was a very green and pink town). A guy had been waiting for her at the airport, a guy with green hair and a green suit and green eyes. Amy had ran to him, and they'd hugged.

Robbie woke up in a sulky mood that day, and spent it stomping around the mechanical room.

The third day, he'd decided to break Amy and her boyfriend (which he mockingly named Magnus—he never really liked that name, anyways. What kind of a name was that?) up.

The fourth day, he began scheming. He stayed up later than usual, into the dark hours of the night, which led to the fifth day, which he spent sleeping away and recovering from his late night. On the sixth day, he ran out of paper to plot on, so he resorted to his chalkboard.

On day seven, he still hadn't made an adequate plan to break up Amy and 'Magnus', so he threw chalk at the blank scheming chalkboard. Then he realized he no longer had any chalk to use to make a plan, so he went back to sleep in despair.

Days eight, nine, and ten, he loafed around. Part of him longed to return to the surface and see Amy, but the other part of him was mad over her and 'Magnus'. He elected to remain stubborn and stay locked in his home.

Then, finally, on day eleven, he came up with the perfect plan: he would make Amy a cake, the best cake she'd ever have, and she would break up with Magnus who couldn't bake a cake at all. It was fool-proof!

Until day twelve, when he realized he had no cake-baking ingredients. Nor did he know what kind of cake Amy preferred. He'd also forgotten that Magnus was not real, that Robbie had imagined him. The villain was too focused on the potential relationship to remember that. After realizing he lacked the proper ingredients and knowledge, he rushed out of his home and into Lazytown to buy supplies. At one point, he passed by Pinky and her friends, but Amy was nowhere to be seen, which only added to his paranoia. He bought four different types of cake mix, then three different types of frosting, seventeen containers of sprinkles, three gallons of milk (he hated the stuff, usually, but it seemed that milk was a vital ingredient when it came to baking a cake), two cartons of eggs, a gallon of vegetable oil, and various candies to throw into the mix. In addition to cake-creating items, he'd bought chocolate-chip cookies and three flavors of ice cream. Surely, Amy would like _one_ of the options, right?

Robbie was so wrapped up in the twenty-odd bags he was juggling, he didn't even notice that the entrance dome to his home was already opened. In fact, after he somehow managed to make it down the ladder, he paused and looked up at the entrance. "Did I leave the door open again?" he wondered aloud. When no answer came from the air, he shrugged and gathered up the bags again. Then he continued down the short connecting tunnel into the main room. He made his way to the larger table and used a leg to shove all the beakers and tubes off before dropping all the bags on it with a loud 'huff'. The glass crashed to the floor, a few tubes shattering in the process.

"Now…" he said, considering the supplies, "how to make a cake?" He stared at the items on the table as if expecting them to suddenly merge together and create a perfect cake without him needing to put any effort into it. Nothing happened, and he sighed.

"I think you're supposed to mix it all together," a voice said in front of him. Robbie shrieked and jumped backwards. The voice laughed, and he recognized it as Amy. He sucked in a lungful of air before looking up and seeing her standing next to his chair. For some reason, she was wearing a black-and-white suit (wait, wasn't that _his_ suit?). Her green hair was in braids, as usual, but the braids were falling apart, which actually looked cute with the outfit, in a weird way (and there he went again with the whole "cute"/"pretty" word).

"What are you doing here?!" he demanded, embarrassed at himself for thinking about how nice she looked.

Amy just continued laughing. She tried to speak several times, but then her eyes would meet his and she started all over again. She raised a hand to point, but then she just bent over and clutched her stomach. Eventually, her laughter died down, but she had a huge smile on her face. "Your face—you should've— _you screamed—_ I can't—," she said between breaths, and then she was laughing again.

Robbie felt himself growing more embarrassed, and thus began to grow irritated. He'd actually wanted to make a cake for this girl who couldn't stop mocking him? He'd actually thought she was nice, and pretty, and smelled good? Pfft. She didn't deserve a cake from him! He crossed his arms and glared at her.

Amy saw his glare and forced herself to quiet down. "S-sorry," she finally managed to say. "It's just—you're the funniest person I think I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. That was great."

Robbie felt himself soften at her words. He couldn't help it; he could not stay mad at her for some reason. "It's fine," he said gruffly. "Glad you liked it. Which reminds me, why are you in my house?"

Amy looked down, and he could've sworn she was blushing. "I was wanting to make sure you were okay," she answered. "Hadn't seen you in a while. Wanted to make sure I didn't offend you or anything by taking your nap spot." She finally looked up at him. "Did I?"

She honestly though he'd been avoiding her? "Of course not!" Robbie replied, throwing his arms down. "I was busy planning…stuff."

"Like how to get Sportacus out of Lazytown forever?"

Robbie felt himself freeze. "You…what? How did—why—I would never want to get rid of that do-gooder, sportscandy-eating Sportakook!"

Amy laughed again. "Chill, dude. Sportacus told me all about your schemes. At first I thought it was kinda weird, but I have a few people back home I'd love to banish. I just never tried to do it." She came closer and leaned against the table. "Besides, apparently your plans always fail."

"Well, I wouldn't say they _always_ fail."

She fixed her brown eyes on him and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, most of them do."

The eyebrow went higher.

"Okay, all of them." He gestured to the ingredients on the table. "But no, I was not plotting. I was making a cake." And plotting to break Amy up with Magnus, but she didn't need to know that.

The eyebrow went even higher. "You spent 12 days hidden away from Lazytown because you wanted to bake a cake?" Amy crossed her arms and smirked. "Must be a pretty good cake."

"It will be the best cake ever!" he exclaimed. He watched as she picked up a box of cake mix and read the back. Then she picked up another box before setting them both back down and staring at him.

"Were you indecisive on the flavor or something?"

"I wasn't sure what type you— _I_ felt like eating." He'd almost slipped! Good thing he'd caught himself before revealing his plan. "So I got all of them."

"You got everything," Amy admitted, picking up a can of chocolate frosting. She stared at the can, and Robbie recognized the familiar expression of longing. It was an expression he often had on his face whenever he was around something sugary. Amy seemed to shake herself out of it and returned her gaze to the villain. "So. Let's bake a cake!"

"You want to help?" That hadn't been part of the plan, but he could work around this. After all, if they made a cake, they would be spending time together, which might make her realize that Robbie was better than Magnus. Yes, this could work out very much in his favor.

"If that's okay with you, I'd love to help!" She began setting all the ingredients out in an organized manner, grouping similar items together. "You really did get everything, didn't you?" She picked up a bag of chocolate candies, and then, to Robbie's shock, opened the bag and dumped a handful into her mouth. She froze, realizing what she'd just done, and looked at Robbie. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself. Love me some chocolate." She smiled, and Robbie smiled back. She held out the bag to him, and he took it from her before dumping a handful into his mouth as well.

"Who doesn't love chocolate?" he asked through a mouthful of candy. She giggled, and they got to work. While Amy continued organizing the ingredients, Robbie searched for aprons and cooking items. He found a giant bowl and a huge measuring cup, as well as a regular-sized whisk. He didn't have an oven, but his microwave could cook almost anything. He carried all the items to Amy, who made room for them on the table.

"Right then. We can either make…four different cakes, _or_ we could throw everything in it and see what happens." Amy looked to him, hands on her hips. "Which do you wanna do?"

Robbie pondered. Four cakes or one massive cake? Which would be better? "I think," he began, then stopped. Technically, it would take them longer to make four separate cakes. But most anyone could make four different cakes in one day. How many people tried mixing in everything just to see what happens? He bet Magnus probably didn't. "Let's put them all together!" he finally exclaimed. Amy grinned and grabbed an apron. He did likewise. Then they started opening the boxes and reading the list of ingredients to figure out how much of everything they would need.

"It looks like each box of batter needs 1 and 2/3 cups of milk, and 4/5ths of a cup of vegetable oil. Plus two eggs each, which is…" Amy looked at Robbie as if asking him to do the math. When he stared at her blankly, she blinked. "A lot of stuff. Right. I don't do math."

She liked sugar, naps, and didn't like math. It was official; she was perfect. There was no other girl out there that Robbie could like as much as he liked Amy right now. He found himself grinning at her, and then they began dumping everything into the enormous mixing bowl.

* * *

"Amy?" Stephanie called. There was no answer from her cousin.

"Maybe she's back at your house," Ziggy suggested.

Stephanie frowned. "I just checked there. Uncle Milford said he hasn't seen her since we left this morning." She leaned against a nearby tree. "I don't know where she is." The day had begun smoothly; Amy and Stephanie had left the house at 10 to meet up with the other kids for a game of hockey. Of course, they didn't have any ice in Lazytown due to it being summer, but everyone had roller-skates that they could use (except Amy, but luckily enough, Sportacus had a pair in her size). They'd used a tennis ball as the puck, and everyone had a great time. They'd played until everyone was sufficiently hungry, then all went to Stingy's house for lunch. Amy had pulled Stephanie off to the side and asked her where Robbie Rotten lived, and Stephanie pointed in the general direction, but she herself wasn't sure where the villain lived. Then Amy had left for her 'alone time', and they'd all played videogames until it wasn't super-hot outside anymore. Normally, Amy met up with them in the park for another game, but it was pushing 5:30 with no signs of her, and Stephanie was feeling a tad worried. Okay, maybe more than just a tad.

"She's not in the library, or at the treehouse," Stingy said, joining the two.

"She's not by the school, either," Trixie added.

Stephanie sighed. "Should I even be worried about her? Or am I just overreacting?" she asked her friends.

"Overreacting about what?" a familiar voice asked. The kids turned and saw Sportacus standing behind them. He zeroed in on Stephanie's expression and immediately was by her side.

"Amy's missing," the pink-haired girl explained.

"Missing?"

"Normally, she goes off on her own while we stay inside during the hottest part of the day," Stephanie began. Sportacus nodded; it was important to spend time outside, but it was also important to stay indoors when the sun was at its hottest in order to avoid sunburns. "And then we meet up in the park at 4 to play. But she's not here." Stephanie spread her arms out, indicating the lack of a green-haired girl. "I don't know where she is, and I'm just a little worried about her."

Sportacus crouched down to Stephanie's height. "I'm sure your cousin is fine," he said with a reassuring smile. "Did she say she was going anywhere?"

"Well, she did ask me where Robbie lived, but I wasn't really sure, so I just pointed in the general direction. But I don't think she was planning on visiting him."

"Why would anyone want to visit Robbie Rotten?" Ziggy asked.

"Yeah, he's no fun," Stingy agreed.

Sportacus found himself reminded of the conversation between him and Amy from almost two weeks ago. She'd been interested in the villain, enough to ask Sportacus about him, at least. Was it possible that she might have decided to visit him? Part of him believed it was entirely plausible. From Day One, it had been obvious that Robbie and Amy were intrigued by each other. In fact, hadn't Amy even told them that Robbie had _helped_ her? "Stephanie," the slightly-above-average hero said, meeting her eyes, "I think your cousin is fine. If she was in trouble, my crystal would be beeping, right?"

Stephanie found herself nodding. Sportacus had a good point. "I guess," she said. "That makes me feel a little better, I think."

"Good!" Sportacus stood up to full height and looked at the other kids. "Now, who's up for a game of freeze tag?"

"I am!" they all chorused, even Stephanie after a moment's hesitation. Sportacus smiled at them before poking Ziggy on the shoulder.

"You're it!" he said, and the game began.

* * *

"Oh my goodness!" Amy exclaimed, looking at her wrist.

A huge glob of strawberry frosting had landed on her sleeve. Fortunately, it was on a black stripe, so she licked it off before Robbie could notice that she'd spilled on his outfit.

"What? What happened?" Robbie demanded, looking up from his half of the cake.

"Absolutely nothing to worry about! Just a little frosting," she replied with a smile. Robbie smiled back, and she felt her stomach do a series of acrobatic flips. Something about him just made her feel good inside. She was glad that she'd bothered finding his lair, because she might not have seen him for another week if she hadn't. She just couldn't believe that he'd spent all that time deciding to make a cake. But she wasn't going to push the issue, because she had a theory about him.

She resumed working on her half of the cake. It was enormous—about two feet long and 18 inches tall, easily the biggest cake she'd ever made, or even seen. They'd divided it in half to try and get the entire thing decorated in a reasonable amount of time, but it was still taking quite a while. Of course, they kept eating the sugary foods as they decorated, so maybe that was part of the problem. But seriously, how could anyone resist tasting everything?

She brushed back her bangs again. For a moment, she considered just taking her braids down and pulling her hair into a ponytail; it wasn't as if her braids were still braids anymore, anyways. Throughout the course of the day they'd fallen out.

Which reminded her—she still didn't know exactly how she'd changed outfits. Robbie hadn't said anything about her wearing his suit, but surely he'd noticed. How could he not? Her clothes were now in a tube next to other costumes. It was kind of obvious. "Robbie?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he said from his side.

Amy popped a chocolate-chip cookie into her mouth before continuing. "How does your costume-changing tube thingy work?"

"I have no idea. I ordered it online, then tweaked it a bit."

"Is there an instruction manual or something?"

"Threw it away. Who needs instructions?"

Amy had no response to that, so she ate another cookie. Finally, she finished her side. "All done!" she said happily.

"Me, too!" Robbie said, straightening. They both switched sides to admire the other's work. Robbie's side was fairly messy, with uneven globs of frosting and clusters of sprinkles. All the same, it made Amy's mouth water just staring at it. She had waited long enough.

"It's beautiful," she said, taking a step back. Robbie walked around and joined her. They looked at each other before nodding. "Let's do this."

Robbie rushed across the room to grab plates and forks. Amy gathered all the messy cooking items together and put them in the giant mixing bowl. When Robbie returned, she poured milk into two giant, orange cups that (fortunately) happened to be nearby. Robbie set the plates and forks down on the table, but kept a spatula in hand to cut the cake. He slowly lowered the spatula onto the cake and cut a square out. Using the spatula, he placed the square onto a plate, then handed it to Amy, who took it and stared at the various colors swirled around in it. The four different types of batter, mixed with all the candies and sprinkles and frosting, had made a cornucopia of a cake.

Robbie got himself a piece. He and Amy made eye contact and nodded once again. Simultaneously, they took a bite.

Amy didn't know whether she was in a sugar-induced euphoria or a sugar-induced coma that would lead to her death, but she liked it. Somehow, each different flavor only enhanced the others. It would taste like red velvet cake for two seconds, then slip over into a chocolate devil's cake, then into a creamery vanilla, then back into the devil's cake, then into some strange caramel/crème Brule flavor before going back to the red velvet cake. If Sportacus eveninhaled a _whiff_ of this cake, he would collapse. She could only assume Robbie was feeling the same, but she couldn't be sure because she was so into the piece of cake she had on her plate.

When she'd eaten half of the square, she finally took a milk break. Which somehow resulted in her chugging the whole glass and needing to get more. As she poured another glass, she glanced at Robbie, who was eating his second piece with gusto. She giggled, and he looked up at her from his cake.

"Wazo-unny?" he asked, tiny pieces of cake fluttering out from his mouth. Amy started laughing at him, and he straightened up before swallowing. "What's so funny?" he asked again. Amy continued laughing; although his mouth was now empty, he had chocolate frosting all over his face, giving him a frosting beard. Instead of telling him this, however, she just pointed at his face and doubled over.

It was entirely possible that she was on a sugar high right now, and that's why everything seemed so hilarious.

"You—fros—YOUR FACE." She managed to get a few words out, but judging from Robbie's confused expression, he didn't understand what she was getting at. The villain crossed his arms and frowned, which only made him look more ridiculous, and this time, she laughed so hard that she just fell over. Her head smacked the floor, which cut off the laughter. She lay there, staring at the ceiling, before Robbie's face entered her line of sight.

"Are you okay?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Ow," she replied. Then she frowned. "That really hurt."

Robbie held out a hand, which she grasped eagerly. He pulled her to a sitting position, and she rubbed her head. Then he crouched down next to her. "Are you okay?" he repeated.

Amy winced as she touched the sore spot. "Yeah," she muttered. "I meant to do that." She looked at Robbie, who was quite close to her. "You got a little something on your face there, Mr. Rotten. Or shall I say, _Rottenbeard_?" With that finally said, she started laughing again.

Robbie jumped up and rushed to a mirror. His facial expression went to one of horror and embarrassment before he rushed to find a towel or napkin. She tried not to laugh at him, sensing that it might only embarrass him further, but when he finally faced her again, the chocolate beard was gone.

A silence sprung between them. Robbie was on the opposite end of the room, and Amy was still sitting on the floor. She started to stand up, and wobbled a bit. Suddenly, Robbie was by her side, holding her up. "Thanks," she said. Robbie stepped away once he was sure she was stable.

"No problem," he replied gruffly.

The awkward silence resumed. "I should probably go," Amy said at last, motioning towards the exit. "Steph's probably wondering where I am."

Robbie wouldn't look at her. "Probably."

She turned and began walking towards the tunnel that led to the ladder. She was about halfway there when she turned for one last look at the lair. "Bye," she told the villain. She resumed her exit, and had reached the ladder when she heard Robbie speak.

"This cake is awfully big. It might take a few days to eat the whole thing."

Amy smiled. "Guess that means I'll be back tomorrow," she called back. She began climbing the ladder and was too far up to hear when Robbie murmured, "Good." Thus began the walk back into town. She had just passed the park when she heard, "AMY!"

A pink blur rushed at her and hugged her. Amy nearly toppled over from the energetic girl (to the amusement of the other kids and one superhero), but she held her ground.

"Hey, there, Steph," she grinned, then winced. About halfway en route back to Lazytown, her head had begun to hurt. Now it was throbbing, and soon, she sensed it would turn to a full-out pounding sensation.

"Are you alright?" Sportacus asked, noticing her wince.

"I fell and hit my head on a concrete floor about an hour ago. 'S starting to hurt a little bit," she admitted.

"Where were you?" Stephanie asked. "I thought we were gonna play at 4, like we always do."

"What time is it?" Amy asked. Surely she hadn't been hanging with Robbie _that_ long.

"It's almost time for dinner," Ziggy answered.

Amy gasped. "What? I've been gone that long?"

"Yeah, that's why we were so worried about you," Stephanie said, looking at her cousin. "Wait, what happened to your clothes?"

Amy looked down at herself. She'd completely forgotten to change out of Robbie's costume—and her clothes were still in his lair. Oh well. She was going back tomorrow anyways. "Uhm, I had an abrupt costume change?"

Sportacus seemed to pick up on her reluctance to answer. "Alright, kids. It's time to go home and eat dinner. Remember, you should always eat three meals a day in order to stay healthy."

The other children all reluctantly said their goodbyes and walked away, muttering amongst themselves. Once they had gone, Stephanie, Amy, and Sportacus all began walking towards the Meanswell house. "Now, Amy, are you going to tell us where you've been?" the almost-hero asked.

Amy took a moment to stare at his blue eyes. They seemed nice, and she saw that he wouldn't be mad at her for where she'd been. Not that he should be mad at her, anyways, because she was a grown woman who could do whatever she wanted. Still, she couldn't lie to those eyes.

"I went to visit Robbie," she admitted.

Stephanie's mouth fell open in an 'O', but Sportacus nodded, and Amy realized he had guessed her answer.

"I was wondering why I hadn't seen him, so I went to his…house. He wasn't there, so I explored a little bit, then fell asleep. He got back with all these cake ingredients, so then we made the world's best cake—although I really think it might kill you, Sport, so you should probably stay away from Robbie's lair until we finish eating the whole thing. Then I started laughing and fell over and hit my head, which is why it's hurting, plus I probably had way too much sugar today and wow, I feel like I'm talking really fast for some reason." Yep, she definitely had a lot of sugar still in her system.

"You need to drink plenty of water to get rid of that sugar," Sportacus told her. There was no anger in his tone, no was there any indication of scolding. "You should also make sure to eat some sportscandy tonight and tomorrow—that's healthy sugar."

"Yeah, I plan on it," Amy replied. Her head had progressed to pounding now, and all she wanted was water and a bed. Fortunately, they'd reached the house by that point, so all she had to do was make it to her bedroom. No watching the stars tonight, that was for sure.

"I'd better go, then." Sportacus looked up towards his airship. "Ladder!" he called. His rope ladder fell down into his hand. He began climbing up it. "Goodnight, Stephanie. Goodnight, Amy," he said to them. "Drink water!" Then he was gone.

Amy looked at her pink cousin. "Are you mad at me?" she asked.

Stephanie looked at Amy. "You visited Robbie Rotten?" She sounded doubtful.

"Yeah. Something wrong with that?"

Stephanie hesitated. "No," she said, but the short hesitation was all Amy needed to hear.

"You don't like him."

"He's just not a good guy, Amy."

"Yeah, well, I realize that. But he has been pretty nice to me so far, so I think there's a chance we could be friends." By now, her head felt like someone was hammering it with every word she spoke or heard from someone else.

"But he's tried to get rid of Sportacus so many times!"

"And? Has he succeeded?"

"No, but—,"

"Steph, I really don't want to talk about this right now. My head really hurts, and I just want to go to sleep. Please, can we talk later?" Amy pleaded with her younger cousin mentally as well.

Stephanie nodded. "Yes. But we _will_ talk before you see him, okay?"

Amy didn't like Stephanie's tone; it made her feel like a kid who was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. How on earth did Stephanie learn to sound like that, anyways? But at this point, she was so close to the bed and relief from her headache that she would accept any truce she could get. "Deal," she said, and the two entered the Meanswell house.

"Why, hello, girls," Uncle Milford began, but Amy held up a hand to silence him. She went straight to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, then went to her room, where she shut the door, changed into pajamas, chugged the water, and promptly fell asleep, despite all the sugar that was still in her system.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is my favorite chapter so far. I had a blast writing it, and...well, you'll see. Enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: Do I really need to say it again? Amy is mine, anyone else is not.**

Stephanie spent the whole morning mulling over her feelings about Robbie and Amy spending time together. A part of her thought it was cute, but then she kept thinking about all the things Robbie had done to the kids, and she couldn't bring herself to accept him so easily. She definitely needed to talk to Amy about this.

About an hour later, Stephanie cautiously entered the room, a blue tray balanced on her hands. Amy was still asleep, but her nose twitched at the smell of pancakes. As Stephanie watched, her cousin's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was the food. Then she looked up and saw Stephanie standing there.

"What time is it?" Amy asked drowsily.

"Almost 10:30," Stephanie replied. She saw a spark of confusion—Amy must've gotten used to waking up at 9 every day. "I decided to let you sleep. You looked like you needed it."

Amy slowly sat up. She rubbed her head gingerly, but didn't wince when she touched the presumably sore spot.

"How's the head?"

"Much better. I really think it was more the sugar that was causing the problem. I'm not doing that again anytime soon." Amy leaned against the wall and looked at Stephanie. "So…breakfast in bed?"

Stephanie set the tray on the bed where Amy could reach it, then grabbed a chair from the nearby desk. "Robbie Rotten?"

Amy sighed. She picked up the fork on the tray and began to cut her pancakes into smaller pieces. "He's really not so bad," she said, tracing a triangle and cutting it out. "I know that you said he's a bad guy, but he's never actually been successful with his plans, right?"

"I guess not," Stephanie nodded. "But that doesn't excuse him for trying."

"No, I agree." Amy took a bite. "But he's really fun to hang with, Steph. Don't get me wrong—I love playing games with all of you. I'm actually getting in shape this summer." Stephanie smiled. "It's just…I'm lazy, too. I like taking naps. I like doing nothing sometimes. And I like junk food. Even when it gives me a crazy headache." Amy took another bite. "I'm totally fine with eating healthy food. Occasionally I do want some cake, though. And yesterday, we had some fun making the world's largest cake."

"How big was it?" Stephanie was curious.

"Like, three feet."

"Wow. That's _huge_!"

"Yeah. We couldn't eat the whole thing, so I'm going back today to work on it some more."

"Oh." Stephanie couldn't disguise her disappointment. "I was hoping you'd play soccer with us."

Amy finished one pancake and started on the second. "I'm up for that," she said between bites. "I mean, Robbie's probably still sleeping, anyways. I can go visit him this afternoon, and then I'll be back in time for a round of kickball or baseball or whatever."

"Really?"

Amy laughed. "Yesterday I lost track of time. It won't happen again. I promise."

Stephanie jumped up from her chair and reached to hug Amy. "That's great! I'll tell the others!"

"Whoa, there. Do I get to finish my breakfast first?" Amy looked down at her tray. There was half a pancake, a glass of orange juice, and a banana left.

"Of course!" Stephanie exclaimed happily. She rushed out of the room and outside, where all her friends were waiting.

"So? What'd she say?" Trixie asked.

The pink-haired girl clasped her hands together. "Amy is going to play soccer with us, but then she's going back to Robbie's lair."

"What!" the other kids chorused.

"She's _willingly_ going to hang out with Robbie Rotten?" Pixel raised his eyebrows.

"She says he's fun." Stephanie frowned.

Trixie leaned against a nearby tree. "Fun? Robbie Rotten? He's the opposite of fun!"

"Yeah," Ziggy agreed. "And he's always trying to make Sportacus leave Lazytown forever."

Stephanie sighed. "I can't stop her from visiting him," she said, still frowning. "I'm not sure what to do. I can't tell her she can't visit him—she's older than me. It'd be rude."

Pixel's face lit up. "You can't tell her…but I know someone who can!"

"Who?" Stingy asked, caressing his soccer ball. He'd decided to not pay too much attention to the conversation, but he understood the gist of it.

"Sportacus!" Pixel exclaimed with triumph.

"Yes?"

The children all spun around and saw the almost-hero standing behind them. He had a smile on his face, and seemed ready for the game. Stingy pushed Stephanie forward. She stumbled, but caught herself. After a nervous glance at her expectant friends, she finally spoke.

"Is there a way you can tell Amy she can't spend time with Robbie?" she muttered.

Sportacus gave her a confused look. "What?" he asked.

Stephanie couldn't meet his eyes. "We don't think it's a good idea for Amy to be spending time with Robbie," she reiterated.

"Especially after he tried to banish you!" Ziggy added.

Sportacus sighed. "I can't make that decision," he replied. "And you shouldn't be trying to. Your cousin can do whatever she wants. I can't tell her what to do; that's not my job. I can only give advice and hope that it helps people make good decisions. How would you all feel if I told you to never eat candy again?"

Ziggy gasped and hugged his backpack, which was presumably full of candy.

"I can tell you that candy is unhealthy, and I can encourage you to eat sportscandy, but I shouldn't tell you to stop eating candy forever." Sportacus crouched down to meet Stephanie's eyes. "Do you understand?"

Stephanie nodded, her face heating up in embarrassment. "Sorry," she murmured.

"Are we gonna play or what?" Amy asked, running up to them. Sportacus jumped up, and all the children began talking about the soccer game. Stephanie hung back for a few moments, pondering. She knew that Sportacus was right—Amy could make her own decisions. More to the point, she now felt angry at herself for even asking Sportacus to interfere. How petty was that?

Amy seemed to not notice her cousin's lack of enthusiasm, or if she did, she didn't comment on it. They all played a few rounds until it was finally lunchtime. Stephanie watched as Amy rose from Ziggy's kitchen table and left, and the others gave her a moment of silence before resuming their conversations.

Robbie woke with a start. "What time is it?" he asked no-one, and received no reply. He rose from his chair and stretched, wincing when his back made a 'popping' sound. He sighed, then wandered to a radio clock over by his costumes. It read '1:30'. He turned to face the giant cake that he and Amy had made yesterday.

Yesterday had been amazing. Yes, it truly had. He'd enjoyed every bit of it, even though he'd been embarrassed when Amy pointed out his frosting beard. Despite his grumpiness afterwards, he hadn't really wanted Amy to leave. It made sense for her to go, though, because Pinky and Sportakook were probably wondering where she was. But she'd said she'd be back today.

So where was she?

Right on cue, he heard footsteps descending the ladder. "Robbie?" Amy's voice called.

He fought the urge to smile, then realized he didn't want to fight it. So he smiled as Amy sauntered into the room. She grinned back at him.

"Ready to finish this cake?" she asked.

"Yes!" he replied, a bit too quickly. He made as if to jump over the railing to get to her faster, but his lack of sports hadn't exactly given him the ability to leap over a railing smoothly. Instead, he fell. "I meant to do that," he said, face mashed against the floor. There were rapid footsteps, then Amy was by him, pulling him up.

"Sure you did," she said, concerned but still smiling. They walked over to the table with the Heavenly Cake (at least, that's what Robbie dubbed it in his head). He already had plates and cups stacked next to it—last night, he'd been bored and awaiting Amy's return. He'd even ordered a mini-fridge that contained milk and was placed under the table, effectively eliminating a need to walk away from the table and across the room (hooray for laziness!). The two cut their pieces of cake, then began eating.

There was silence as they ate, but for some reason, it didn't feel awkward. Which was weird to Robbie, who always felt awkward when there was a long silence. Maybe it was because the Heavenly Cake was too good to eat while talking. Each bite had to be savored and chased with milk. Unfortunately, that was a copious amount of food, and by the time they'd eaten half of the whole cake, they were both full.

And that's how they found themselves sitting on the orange fuzzy rug, just talking. "Man, I've been playing outside so much this summer. Which is nice, I admit, even though I'm a fairly lazy person who doesn't like anything sportsy at all," Amy said, leaning against the television stand. "I am a bit confused, because why is Lazytown named Lazytown when everyone's the exact opposite of lazy?"

"They used to be," Robbie muttered, more to himself. But Amy heard.

"What d'ya mean?"

Robbie adjusted his position against the chair. "Before your pink cousin came here, nobody played sports. Everyone was nice and lazy, and ate sugary foods every single day. The children didn't play outside, they slept until noon, and they stuck to their videogames and televisions. But then Pinky (Amy sniggered at the nickname) moved here, and she started dancing. Then she found out about the so called 'almost hero' that lived in an airship above Lazytown, and she sent him a message asking for help in teaching all the kids how to have fun, her way." His voice took on a mocking tone the longer he talked. "Her way, which has them all moving around and flippity-flipping all over the place and eating sportscandy instead of _real_ candy…and there's so much _dancing_!" Robbie threw his hands up in the air to demonstrate his point. "I don't understand why they like _that_ ," he mimicked jazz hands, "more than _this_ ," he indicated himself and Amy sitting, and the cake behind them.

The tirade done, he looked at Amy for her reaction. She was watching him solemnly, thoughtfully, rather than with humor, as he'd expected. Suddenly he felt very silly for sharing so much with her. Why would she care about Lazytown's lack of laziness? She was only there for a summer. And Pinky was her cousin, after all. She probably approved of all the dancing.

"Why do you like being lazy?" she asked.

Robbie opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. He allowed himself to think about the question. Why _did_ he like being lazy? Why does anyone like being lazy? "Because—," he began, then stopped. Because _why_? "Because it's easy," he finally replied.

And it was. It didn't take a lot of effort to get up, grab food, then return to a couch or chair and stay there. It didn't use up hardly any energy when all you did was adjust a sleeping position. It was easier to not think about what to eat based on healthiness, but to just grab whatever you had regardless of sugar content.

Amy didn't say anything in response, and the silence began to stretch. Robbie started to fiddle with his hands; the sugar and the silence made him feel awkward again. When he couldn't bear it anymore, he spoke. "Do I disappoint you?" he asked slowly, staring at his hands.

"Why would you think that?" Amy asked. She sounded startled, so he forced himself to look at her.

"You didn't say anything," he answered. "I wasn't sure if I let you down or somethin'."

He heard her blow a puff of air out her nose. It must've been a laugh, because when she spoke again, her voice was laced with amusement. "I just told you a while ago that I'm a lazy person, too. I like lounging about. You're right; it is easy. There are days when I just grab whatever's closest in the fridge and eat it. There are days where I don't get out of bed except to eat and use the bathroom." Robbie found himself nodding to her words. He had days like that! "But there are times when I make myself go outside and take a walk, or read a book, or just chillax in the shade. It's nice getting fresh air. And like I said earlier, even though I'm pretty lazy on my own, I like playing games with the kids. I'm not saying you should join in one day, but I think you'd like it."

Robbie felt himself deflating. Maybe she wasn't as perfect as he had originally thought. She thought he'd _like_ playing games? Obviously she didn't know him that well.

He was shocked to find that the revelation made him sad.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," she continued. "And that's no reason at all why I'd be disappointed with you." She blew another puff of air out of her nose. "We're friends, and I'm hoping that doesn't change just because I occasionally eat 'sportscandy' (she made airquotes around the word)."

"It won't!" Robbie was fast to exclaim. "Besides, I still have—," _Your green bracelet_ , he almost said. He should've finished his sentence and just given it back to her, but somehow the bracelet and her friendship were connected. An irrational part of him was convinced that if he returned the bracelet to her, then she would no longer want to spend time with him. She would take the bracelet, leave Lazytown, and go back to Magnus (he grimaced at the name), to never think of Robbie Rotten and how they made a Heavenly Cake ever again.

"Still have what?" Amy leaned forward, waiting for him to finish the sentence.

"What time is it?" he said instead.

Amy looked at the clock by the lamp, then jumped up almost as fast as Sportakook. "I gotta go! I promised Steph I'd be back in time to play something before dinner!" She grabbed her backpack and threw the straps over her shoulders. "You can come, if you want. But you don't have to."

He was surprised to find himself considering her offer. She mistook his considering for hesitation, though, and smiled. "It's okay. I'll be back tomorrow, and we can probably finish the cake. No biggie." She turned and began walking towards the ladder, leaving Robbie sitting on the floor, watching her walk away.

He sighed when she was gone. "Way to go, Rotten," he muttered to himself. "Now what are you supposed to do?"

He remained on the floor for about ten minutes, staring at the tunnel. "I'm bored," he finally said out loud. He waited another five minutes, then pouted. "Maybe some fresh air would be good for me."

That said, he forced himself to stand up. He glanced around the room, feeling slightly shifty as he did. After all, Robbie Rotten did not play games. He did not go outside for fresh air. What would everyone else in Lazytown think if he suddenly started acting differently? They'd think he lost his touch, that he was no longer a villain! Which is why he would not play with them. But that didn't mean he couldn't watch, right? And maybe watching them would give him another brilliant scheme to rid the town of Sportacus!

And maybe, just maybe, Amy would see him, and smile at him some more.

With that in mind, Robbie Rotten, the laziest man ever, made up his mind to willingly go outside.

The majority of the kids (and Sportacus) were already on the court, ready to play. Amy couldn't help but grin back at her pink-haired cousin, whose smile was infectious. "What are we playing?" she asked.

"Kickball!" Stephanie supplied. "Only Sportacus calls this version 'Australian Kickball'."

Amy made a face. "What's 'Australian Kickball'?" she wondered. Stephanie shrugged.

"He's waiting for everyone to get here before explaining." Amy nodded, then spotted several waterbottles sitting on the wall.

"Hey, Steph, are those waterbottles for us?" she asked.

Stephanie nodded, her grin growing bigger. "Sportacus got us all special waterbottles that we can use this summer. He says they'll keep cool even on the hottest day."

"Awesomesauce," Amy said, considering the different waterbottles. Each one was a different color: pink (for Stephanie, obviously), blue (Sportacus, who else?), yellow, orange, red, white, green, and purple. She recognized that the green must be hers, but why did Sportacus have a purple waterbottle? It's not like Robbie would be joining them—and who else was that fond of the color purple?

She ignored it and ran to the wall, where she grabbed her waterbottle and drank from it. True to the above-average hero's word, the water was refreshingly cool. She smiled before turning to watch as Stingy, the last of the kids, finally joined them.

"Is everybody here?" Sportacus asked. The small group shouted various affirmations, and he grinned. "Alright. We're going to be playing a different version of kickball today." He began to explain the rules. It was almost the same as regular kickball, but in order to get someone out, all the people on the outfield team needed to form a line in the center of the field, where they would pass the kickball over and under until the last person in the line dropped it into a bucket. It seemed a bit overly complicated to Amy, but she figured it'd at least make for an interesting game.

Part of her continued to ponder the purple waterbottle. Surely Sportacus knew that Robbie wouldn't join them. So what was the point? All it did was get her hopes up that he might stop by—but he wouldn't. She shook her head, causing her bangs to cover her eyes.

"Amy, are you ready to play?" Stephanie called. Amy did a hair flip to clear her line of sight, and what she saw made her grin wider than anyone in Lazytown had seen yet:

Robbie Rotten was peering at the court, unsure of what to do. She could see the uncertainty in his movements; he slunk towards them without a purpose. In fact, he actually looked a bit confused as to why he was there. Then he looked up, meeting her eyes, and she saw the insecurity fade. He smiled awkwardly at her and gave a little wave, which everyone noticed.

"Is that Robbie Rotten?" Trixie asked Pixel, who nodded, dumbfounded.

"What's he doing here?" Ziggy looked towards Stephanie.

Stephanie shrugged. "I guess he wants to play."

Luckily, Sportacus took control. Via a series of aerobatics, he made his way to the purple-clad villain. "Would you like to join us?" he asked nicely.

Robbie jumped at the blue elf's sudden appearance. "What? Me? No! I mean—," he glanced at Amy. "I just thought I'd stop by and watch you all… _play_." The last word came out distastefully, as if he was trying carrots and didn't really like them.

Sportacus clapped him on the back, which knocked Robbie forwards. "That's just fine, too!" Sportacus then ran back to the waiting players. "Are you ready?"

"Yes!" all the kids cheered.

"Good! Who's first?"

Ziggy raised his hand. "Me! Me, Sportacus!"

Sportacus laughed at Ziggy's enthusiasm. "All right then. Go ahead to the home base," he instructed. Ziggy ran to the home plate, where he bounced up and down, waiting for the elf to roll the ball towards him. Finally, Sportacus let the ball loose. It rolled towards Ziggy at just the right speed for the boy to kick it in a beautiful arc over Sportacus's head.

"I got it!" Stephanie yelled, chasing the ball. She grabbed it and ran to the pitcher's spot, where all the other players were waiting in a line. Ziggy stood there, not sure what to do next. Stephanie noticed him. "Ziggy, run!" she shouted.

"Oh!" Ziggy laughed, then began running to first base. Meanwhile, the other players all began passing the kickball over and under, until finally Pixel dropped it into the bucket. Ziggy had made it to second base by then, and Trixie was next up to 'bat'.

Trixie kicked the ball to the far left, just barely in bounds. Amy sprinted after the ball, throwing it to Stephanie once she'd caught it. All the outfield players formed their line once more and yelled at Amy to hurry. She grinned and joined them, jumping in behind Pixel. Ziggy made it home, and Trixie got all the way to third base by the time they'd dropped the ball into the bucket.

There was a small mishap when Stingy kicked the ball, as instead of running through the bases, he simply picked them up and started running with them in hand.

"Stingy, what are you doing?" Trixie shouted.

"They're MINE!" he replied loudly, which made everyone laugh. Even Robbie snorted.

Stephanie also made it all the way to third base with her kick. Then it was Amy's turn. She walked to the home base, already pleasantly tired from the running. She noticed Robbie watching her, so instead of going straight to base, she went over to him.

"Wanna try?" she asked.

Robbie scoffed. "Me? No way! I don't play…" he paused. "What's this called again?"

"Australian kickball."

"I don't play Australian kickball!" he announced, crossing his arms. "Besides, it's too hot."

Amy pointed to the wall, where the waterbottles all glittered in the reddening sunlight. "That purple waterbottle is yours," she said, not mentioning that it had cooled off a bit now that the sun was slowly starting to set.

"Water?" Robbie made a face.

Amy decided to try a different tactic. "What if you kicked the ball, and I did the running? That way, all you need to do is move your foot a little, and I'll do the hard part."

"Amy, are you gonna take your turn or not?" Trixie demanded across the field. Amy ignored her.

"Does that sound like a plan to you?" she repeated. She could see the gears turning in Robbie's head as he mentally weighed the suggestion. Finally he uncrossed his arms.

"All I have to do is kick the ball?" he asked, his eyes darting towards the field, where all the kids and Sportacus stood waiting.

"I'll do all the running," Amy promised.

Robbie hesitated, and Amy opened her mouth to say something else that might encourage him to play, but then she stopped. He needed to make the decision himself.

"Fine," he grumbled.

Amy grinned. "Awesome! You go stand on home base, I'll go explain what's going on to Sportacus!" With that, she ran towards the blue-clad hero. By the time she'd quickly explained the situation, Robbie had trudged to the proper base. She ran back to him and stood next to him, ready to run. Sportacus rolled the ball, and Robbie threw one lanky leg out. The ball rolled under his foot as he did a full 360⁰ spin.

"Did I get it?" he asked. Amy laughed.

"No. But it's okay!" she added upon seeing his face fall. "You get two more tries!"

The second attempt fared even worse. Robbie's foot made contact with the ball, but went too high and over, which tripped him. Amy could almost see his mood sour the moment he fell. "I hate sports," he spat as she helped him up.

"It's okay. You still have one more try. And if you miss, that's still okay. You tried, and that's what really matters." He met her eyes, and she realized she was still holding his arm. She released it, and it fell down to his side. "It's not about whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game. Or, in your case, it's that you try."

"I _am_ trying," he muttered, turning away from her to face Sportacus. She wanted to say something back, but couldn't think of anything. Instead she watched as Sportacus sent the ball in their direction. She watched as Robbie stuck out his foot, and he didn't land on the ground this time. This time, his foot made contact with the rubber ball. It didn't go soaring in an arc like when nearly everybody else had kicked. Robbie's foot had barely touched it. But it was enough to send the ball six inches forwards. She and Robbie stared at the ball before Amy registered that Stephanie was yelling, "RUN!"

Amy winked at Robbie before taking off. Nothing else mattered to her—Robbie had done it. He'd tried, and he'd succeeded. Maybe not exactly in the way she'd hoped for, but baby steps were better than nothing. The field was a blur. She could hear the others shouting, but she didn't care whether they were about to get her out.

 _Robbie had done it_.

Somehow, she made it to third base before realizing that they had only just started passing the ball over and under. She kept them in her peripheral, adding an extra burst of speed. She didn't notice how Stephanie hesitated before passing the ball to Ziggy, giving her an extra few seconds of time.

She _did_ notice that Robbie hadn't moved from the base, and that if he didn't move in the next three seconds, they would collide.

" _MOVE!"_ she screamed.

She had enough time to see Robbie turn to her, probably to say something sarcastic, and then she crashed into him, sending them both sprawling on the ground. Robbie actually took the brunt of the hit, as she landed on top of him, effectively knocking the wind out of them. She didn't envy the bruises he was probably going to have. They remained on the ground, her on him, until Stephanie's voice came from above Amy.

"Are you okay?" the pink girl asked, worried.

"No," came Robbie's pained reply at the same time Amy said, "Yes-ish."

Amy stared at the ground, trying to ignore the fact that she could feel Robbie's chest moving up and down as he breathed. They lay there for a few more moments, until,

"Amy, are you gonna get up?"

Amy's senses slammed into her as she realized that she was _on top of Robbie_. She quickly rolled off him and stood, brushing the dirt off of her shorts. There were scrapes on her legs and elbows, but she forgot about them when she saw that all of the kids were eyeballing her warily. Even Sportacus was motionless, a rarity for the athletic hero. She could feel the awkwardness in the air, and tried to dispel it in the only way she could think of.

"Did we make it?"

Ziggy, the fastest to recover, answered. "Yeah! You touched base a second before Pixel dropped the ball!"

The awkwardness broken, all the kids began agreeing with him, blaming her win on Stephanie and complimenting Amy's speed. Amy laughed with them, then coughed. Sportacus handed her the green waterbottle, and she chugged the cool liquid.

"Don't I get any?" Robbie asked, still on the ground. They all turned to him—the children in shock, Amy in pleasant surprise. Sportacus replied quickly, the purple waterbottle somehow already in his hand. He gave it to the villain, who stared at it as if waiting for it to explode. When it didn't, he slowly raised it to his lips and took a sip. Obviously he liked it, or his body did, because suddenly he was drinking the water greedily. Amy couldn't hide her grin.

Everyone was too tired and hungry after the game to stay outside and chat for long. Sooner rather than later, it was time for dinner. Stephanie turned to Amy, eyebrows raised as if asking her whether it was time to go. Amy nodded, then turned to Robbie, who was clutching his waterbottle possessively, like he was afraid someone would steal it from him. She laughed silently at the image, then opened her mouth to ask if he wanted her to walk him home.

The image of them on the ground together rose unbidden in her mind, and she felt her cheeks flush. She slammed her mouth shut, trying to not think about it. He'd smelled nice, like cake and sugar, which wasn't surprising, considering it was all he ate. For a moment, she wondered if he'd eat a legitimate meal if she cooked it for him. This only served to further heat up her face, despite the coolness coming from the sunset. She opened her mouth again, determined to ask, but Sportacus beat her to it.

"Robbie, would you like a lift?" he asked, indicating his airship.

Robbie jumped, and she again silently laughed. "A lift?" he repeated.

"Yes. It's time for everyone to go home and eat dinner," Sportacus explained, smiling. "I can take you back to your home."

"No _thank_ you," Robbie replied, glaring at the elf. He glanced at Amy briefly before looking away. "I can walk myself." With that, he stalked off.

She felt disappointed. Was he mad about earlier? Or maybe he was embarrassed about the whole situation. It was her fault, after all. She'd convinced him to play, and now he had injuries to remind himself why he didn't play sports.

"Bye," she muttered before turning towards her uncle's house. She and Stephanie started walking in silence, both lost in thought. When they entered the yellow house, they were greeted by the smell of roast chicken and potatoes, which made Amy's mouth water.

"Hello, girls," Milford said cheerfully. "How was your day?"

Stephanie started talking as he handed them plates of food. "It was amazing, Uncle! You wouldn't believe what happened!"

"What?" he asked, genuinely interested.

Stephanie pointed at Amy, who had begun shoving food in her mouth. "Amy got Robbie to play a game!"

"What!" Milford almost dropped the glasses of milk he had gotten for the two. "Robbie Rotten played a _game_?"

"Well, he kicked a ball. Amy did the running. But it was still amazing—until Amy ran into him."

"Oh my," the mayor said, looking at Amy, who smiled sheepishly through a mouthful of potatoes. "Are you okay?"

"'M fine," she managed to say. He handed her the glass of milk, which she gratefully accepted. After she swallowed, she repeated herself. "I'm fine. Robbie got the worst of it, since he landed on the ground." Milford nodded at her, and continued to talk to Stephanie while she wolfed down the food. They cleaned up dinner afterwards, and Stephanie retired to her bedroom, as did Milford. Amy did as well, but she climbed out of the window almost immediately rather than waiting for the other two to go to bed.

She made her way to the bench in Lazy Park where she'd ran into Robbie nearly four weeks ago. Was it really that long?

"Time flies," she said to no one. She only had about six weeks left before she had to go back home. It'd be July in a few days, and she would be flying out on August 11th. The thought of leaving saddened her and she drew her knees up to her chin. "I don't wanna go," she muttered, looking at the sky. The stars shone brighter here, away from a big city. Even the sun seemed to burn brighter in Lazytown. The air smelled fresher, and the colors seemed to pop out more.

Amy remained in that position, pondering the differences between Lazytown and home. Even the prospect of returning to college didn't lift her spirits. She'd miss this small town, and all the inhabitants.

With that, her thoughts turned to Robbie. She hoped he wasn't mad at her for earlier. Tomorrow, she would go to his place and apologize.

She stayed outside until it began to grow cloudy. It didn't feel like rain, not yet, but probably tomorrow it would rain. By the time she crawled back in through the window, it no longer felt like summer outside. It was much cooler. She made sure to shut the window tightly, just in case, then she changed into pajamas and got under the blankets. As she felt herself drift off, she couldn't help but remember how nice Robbie had smelled. She smiled at the memory.

Was there hope for the lazy man after all?


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Well...you know how I said Mondays and Wednesdays are update days? Yeah, it's probably just gonna be Wednesdays now. I've almost caught up to what I have written, and with school starting in two weeks and lots of preparation for my final semester of college, it's crazy. Sorry...but here's a chapter! It's pretty short and sweet. Enjoy!**

Thus far, Amy had gotten used to the bright sun of Lazytown shining through her window and assisting her in waking up bright and early. There had yet to be a day when the sun didn't greet her (which sounded cheesy, she realized, but accurate). So when she woke up and her room wasn't lit up by an abundance of natural light, she was slightly confused. When she checked the window, she saw the issue: for the first time since she'd arrived, clouds blanketed the sky.

"Obviously I was right about rain," she muttered to herself.

"Amy, you awake?" Stephanie called through the door.

"Yeah," she replied, rubbing her eyes.

Stephanie took that as an invite to enter the bedroom. "Good. We're gonna play a short game of basketball before it starts to rain, if you wanna join us," the pink girl explained.

Amy glanced back out the window. "Let me throw on some clothes," she said. "But I can only stay for a little. I wanna stop by Robbie's and make sure he didn't die after all the excitement yesterday." She smiled as she remembered the previous day.

When she turned back to Stephanie, she was confused to see the pink girl smirking. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Stephanie waved her hands. "Just…you two are spending an awful lot of time together."

Amy frowned. "What's your point?"

Stephanie's smirk grew wider. "I'm just pointing it out." She winked, then left the room. "We'll be ready to play in ten minutes," she yelled.

Amy sighed and started going through her closet for clothes. She grabbed a pair of green capris (seriously, who didn't like capris?) and a baseball tee, as well as her sneakers. "We haven't spent _that_ much time together, have we?" she asked herself. "I mean." She pulled off her pajama top and pulled the shirt on. "I've only been here like, two weeks. Ish. And I didn't see Robbie for most of those days because he was—well, I'm not quite sure what he was doing." She pulled on the capris. "He said he was making a cake. Not quite sure why it took two weeks for that to happen, but, I mean, we haven't spent that much time together." She pulled up her shirt and added deodorant. Then she pulled on the shoes and started tying. "And now I'm talking to myself trying to figure out what's going on."

She looked back at the window. The clouds were still covering the sky, but it seemed like rain was still a good while off.

"He did smell nice, though."

She jumped up, ready to go. She ran through the kitchen, pausing to grab a banana, then headed outside. The other kids were already there, waiting.

"Hi Amy!" Ziggy waved with a big grin. She waved back.

"Hey, Ziggy." She peeled the banana and took a bite. "Okay, let's get going!"

What followed was a short but fast game of basketball. By the time they finished, the clouds had darkened. Amy weighed going to visit Robbie and risking the weather with waiting for tomorrow, but for some reason, she didn't want to wait that long to see him. Which is how she found herself walking to his lair with the wind whipping her hair back and forth. She went around the sign and towards the blue hatch. It was closed, so she turned the handle until it unlatched and pulled it up. The familiar entrance was darker than usual without the sunlight.

Without a word, she climbed down the ladder and made her way inside. "Robbie?" she called. Her voice echoed.

"What?" his familiar voice snapped back. She grinned. Obviously he'd still been sleeping.

"It's me, Amy." By then she was in the big room. She spotted him on the orange chair with an orange blanket draped across him. He blinked a couple times, as if to make sure it was really her, then jumped up.

He immediately fell back onto the couch with a wince. "H-hello, Amy."

She walked further into the room. "Robbie, are you okay?"

He flinched, then grimaced. "I'm fine," he muttered gruffly. He looked away from her, then back. "What?"

Amy shrugged. "Nothing," she replied.

There was an awkward silence. Robbie started tapping his foot. "So, uh, what are ya doing here?" he finally asked.

Amy looked up from the floor she'd been staring at. "Oh! Right. I just wanted to make sure you didn't die after playing kickball yesterday," she explained. She felt her eyes go to his face to gauge his reaction. They made eye contact, and then both turned to examine the room some more. "Are you okay?" she asked, daring to look back at his face.

As a human and not a mind reader, Amy could have no idea of the mental battle currently taking place in Robbie's head.

Robbie, however, was the one who was witnessing the battle, so he had to know it was taking place.

On the one hand, he'd had a great time yesterday. Who knew how much fun kicking a ball could be? And the water he'd drank had tasted nice. In fact, everything had been really nice, up to the point when Amy had ran into him. Even that, though, had been worth the bruises and soreness. Overall, it had all been _nice_.

But he was Robbie Rotten! He hated sports, exercise, moving around! He hated it so much that he'd tried everything to get rid of the one person who encouraged fun above all things, Sportacus. Sportacus was his mortal enemy! Which meant that yesterday should have been an awful day. He should've hated the water, hated the slight movement of kicking the ball, hated the sight of Amy running towards him and crashing into him. He should've hated her for making him doing _stuff_. He had a reputation as a villain for a reason!

He was torn. He hadn't even expected Amy to show up at his place that morning, which only added to the mental duress. He definitely hadn't spent all night dreaming about how she smelled like strawberries (which he hated, right?) or thinking about how happy she'd been at him for playing the game.

"Robbie?" he heard her ask, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yesterday was… _okay_ ," he ended up answering. He saw something flicker across her face, something like disappointment, and felt a need to correct himself. "I mean, I had a good time! Up until—," _Sportacus offered to walk me home_ , he meant to say, but Amy interrupted.

"Until I crashed into you. Robbie, I am so sorry about that!" She held her hands up. "It was a total accident! I didn't mean to!"

"N-no! You don't need to apologize!" he exclaimed, jumping up, then winced again. He was, in fact, sore and bruised.

Amy seemed to notice. "And now you probably hate sports even more, and I wouldn't blame you, but I just had to stop by and apologize and make sure you were okay!" The words came out of her mouth fast, like she couldn't stop. Fortunately, a crack of thunder cut her next sentence off before she could start.

Robbie and Amy both looked up. He broke his glance with the ceiling before she did, but then she looked at him and they made eye contact again.

"I should go before it starts raining," she said. He couldn't think of a response to that. She smiled and turned to leave.

"Amy," he said, staring at her back.

She turned around, and he found himself unable to meet her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to gottotheparktomorrow?"

She blinked, and he mentally slapped himself.

"I mean," he rubbed the back of his neck, "we could go to the park tomorrow. I-if you want. I mean," he couldn't stop stuttering! "We could…"

"That'd be fun," he heard her say.

He looked up (when had the floor become so interesting, anyway?). "Really?"

She had a big grin on her face. "Yeah! That'd be great!"

He felt himself smile. "Good!"

BOOM!

Another crash of thunder echoed, closer. Both Amy and Robbie jumped at the sudden noise.

She recovered first and faced him. "I gotta go. But I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yes!" he replied, probably a little too quickly.

Amy didn't notice. She was too busy wondering if it was raining yet. "Bye, then!" she said before running back to the entrance. She pulled herself up the ladder as fast as she could and shut the door-thingy. The clouds were much darker, and she found herself wishing that she'd just asked Robbie if she could stay until the storm had passed. But it felt too late now, so she started back towards town. No sooner had she taken a few steps than a light drizzle began.

"It's okay. I've walked through worse," she said out loud.

There was a flash of lightning, followed closely by more thunder, and then the skies opened up.

She stopped for a moment. "I hate it when that happens," she mumbled, then began to run.

By the time she reached the house, she was beyond drenched. She felt like she'd jumped into a swimming pool of cold water and swam around, clothes and all, for three hours. And then gotten out only to fall back in. She was shivering, and she was soaked.

Stephanie opened the door when she knocked. "Amy! What happened?"

Amy ran into the house, ready to get out of the weather. She ignored her cousin's questions and ran straight into the bathroom, where she promptly turned on the hot water for a shower.

When she had spent enough time in the hot water and donned her fuzzy green pjs, she was ready to take a long nap. She sat down on her bed and leaned against the wall.

"Amy?"

"Yeah?"

Stephanie walked into the room carrying two mugs of hot chocolate. "I brought you some," she said.

Amy gratefully accepted the cup. "Thanks."

Stephanie sat down on the bed next to her. "Sooo…how'd it go?" she asked, the smirk back on her face.

"How'd what go?" Amy took a sip.

"You and Robbie! You went there to talk to him, right?" Stephanie crossed her legs. "Are you two dating yet?"

Amy almost spat out her hot chocolate. She felt her cheeks grow hot. "D-dating? WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT DATING?"

Stephanie started laughing. "It's obvious that you two like each other!"

Amy choked down the rest of her drink. "I don't—where would you even get that idea from?"

Stephanie leaned against the wall. "Well, he hasn't tried to get rid of Sportacus. That's a sign of _something_ , at least. You two have been spending lots of time together, and yesterday he played kickball. No one has ever seen Robbie Rotten willingly play a game unless something really weird is happening." She stared at her cousin. "And he's _nice_ to you. If that doesn't mean he likes you, I don't know what will."

Amy willed her cheeks to stop burning, knowing they wouldn't. "Well, I guess that's true," she mumbled. Stephanie smirked. "And we _are_ planning on going to the park tomorrow…"

Stephanie's smirk grew even bigger. "See? I knew it!"

"Shut up!"

"Amy and Robbie, Amy and Robb—ow!" Amy cut off Stephanie's singing with a pillow smack. "Rude." But the girls were both smiling at each other.

"Which also means I should prolly get some sleep," Amy said, hoping that her younger cousin would take the hint.

She did. The pink-haired girl jumped easily off the bed, still smiling. She walked towards the doorway.

"'Night, Steph," Amy called.

Stephanie turned around. "Amy and Robbie, Amy and Robbie!" she sang again. She closed the door just in time for a pillow to thump against it.

Amy breathed a sigh of relief. "That was exhausting," she muttered to herself. But a pleasant feeling, like eating chocolate, was bubbling inside of her at the thought of tomorrow's…was it a date? Would Robbie consider it a date? What did that mean for them if he did? What if he didn't?

Suddenly her stomach churned. Amy got up, turned out the lights, and crawled back into bed. Sleep would calm her. It always did.

She dreamed of kickball.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Soooo sorry it's been a bit longer than normal! It's the first week back of my final semester of college, so it's a bit crazy. On the upside, I'm really excited about this fic. So have no worries about it being abandoned or anything-I would never!**

 **To brittany, I'm glad you're liking this! I felt like there just weren't enough Robbie Rotten fics out there, and that's where this came from. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own. Sad day.**

Robbie stood in front of the door for hours. At least, it had to be a few hours, because it definitely felt like it. Either that or time was broken. The sun was too bright, anyways, and the air felt too clean. Stupid rain, making everything smell like fresh grass and flowers and sunshine.

He raised a hand to knock, then lowered it. What if he was too early? Or too late? What if Amy had realized that Robbie was a bad guy, and she shouldn't be hanging out with him? What if he wasn't good enough for her?

He stared at the sidewalk in front of him. There was a "welcome" mat, but he felt suddenly unwelcome. What was he thinking, getting up early like this to go to a _park_ with a _girl_? He turned around to leave, dejected. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), his foot missed the sidewalk and planted into the grass. Which was fine, except the grass was still damp from the rain and he was, well, Robbie Rotten, klutz-extraordinaire. He slipped on the grass and spun back around in an attempt to not land on his face. Luckily for him, he didn't land on his face, but somehow managed to fall backwards and land against the door of the house with a loud knock!.

"Ow," he said, trying to ignore the birds that chirruped around his head. He shook them off, too distracted to hear the door open behind him.

"Robbie Rotten? Whatever are you doing here?" the mayor (what was his name again?) asked, catching his attention.

Robbie jumped up and brushed himself off hastily. "I'm, uh…well, I'm here for, uh…I mean that I'm here for, you know, a reason. Not just because I want to be here. Because I don't!" For some reason, his mouth wasn't working properly. "I mean, I do, but it's bright and sunshine-y and I'm here for a very good reason!" He wanted to smack himself for being so inarticulate.

"Robbie?" Stephanie poked her head out from behind her uncle.

"Pinky." He waved goofily at her.

"Are you here for Amy?" she asked.

Robbie could have hugged the pink girl for finally saying what he'd been trying to say. "Yes!" he exclaimed in triumph.

Stephanie giggled (he wanted to call her out for being rude, but for some reason, he was also amused by her). "I'll go get her." The girl turned and disappeared into the house, leaving him and the mayor alone.

"You're here for Amy?" the mayor asked, eyes wide.

Robbie nodded curtly. "Yes?"

The mayor beamed. "Come on in!" He stepped back, allowing Robbie into the house. Robbie entered cautiously, expecting the mayor to realize what a dreadful mistake he'd made and kick him out. He sat down awkwardly on a brightly-colored couch, and the mayor sat down across from him. They sat in silence (what was that guy's name? It was bothering Robbie). The air started to feel stale and hot, which only added to the discomfort.

He was about to say something (probably ask what his name was) when Amy and Pinky joined them. Whatever he had meant to say caught in his mouth, as Amy was wearing a light green sundress that complimented her green hair without it being _too_ green. Her green backpack was on her shoulders as usual. She looked a little paler than normal, but her smile seemed just as vibrant as always.

"Hey, Robbie!" she greeted cheerfully.

He stared for a moment. "Hhhi," he managed to finally say. She walked over to him. He jumped up, and together they walked towards the front door.

"Bye!" Amy called to her family. They replied with "byes" of their own, and then the two of them were out of the house. Robbie felt like he could finally breathe again, even if it was fresh air. "Whoo, glad that wasn't super-awkward," Amy said, grinning at him.

Robbie grinned back at her. "Right," he agreed, ignoring the fact that he had indeed felt awkward.

She laughed at him. "I'm joking. I guess you've never been to the Meanswell house before?"

"That's his name! Meanswell!" Robbie pointed triumphantly at nothing. Then he realized what it must look like that he didn't remember the name of her uncle. "I mean, I knew that," he amended sheepishly.

Amy laughed again. "You're not good with names, are ya? You're a nickname guy, I can tell. Sportaflop, Pinky…"

He found himself laughing with her. "Nicknames are easier to remember," he explained.

"I think it's cause you're lazy," she replied, poking his shoulder lightly. He could neither confirm nor deny. "Let's go to the park!"

They two made their way to Lazy Park, where Amy got out a blanket and spread it out. She sneezed a couple times, but Robbie assumed it was just allergies or something. Then they sat down and just talked. He'd never thought sitting and talking would be a fun thing to do, but with Amy, it was. At least, until he dared to broach the subject of her hometown.

"So…what's it like at home?" he asked.

Amy was quiet. A sense of dread flip-flopped Robbie's stomach. She was probably thinking about Magnus and how she couldn't wait to go home to him, with his green hair and green eyes….

"It's nice," she finally replied. "I guess when I think of 'home' I think of college." She yawned. "I love school, and I love my friends, but I'm gonna miss this place. It's quiet here. I'm actually going outside a lot, and eating much better than I do during the school year. I don't have time to cook a healthy meal, so I'm usually eating junk food and instant meals. I'm only outside when I need to be, which is usually just when I'm walking to classes or to my car." She sneezed.

"Bless you."

"Thanks." She stared off into the distance. Robbie assumed she was thinking about school and how summer was almost over, because that's what he was thinking about. Well, mainly the second part.

What would he do when Amy left? He'd have no one to talk to, or to bake a cake with. The only thing he'd be good for would be annoying the bratty kids, but even that didn't seem like something he wanted to do anymore. That left getting rid of Sportaflop—which he hadn't been doing all summer long. Wow, he was behind on his schemes.

He snuck a glance at Amy. To his surprise, the green girl was fast asleep! She'd drawn her legs up and had her head resting on her knees. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing evenly.

"Well, that was unexpected," Robbie said quietly. She'd been yawning a lot, so maybe she was just really tired. But now what should _he_ do? Should he wake her up? He scooched closer to her. He could smell the familiar scent of strawberries that he was starting to associate with her. Tentatively, he reached up and put an arm around her shoulder, fully intending on gently shaking her awake, but then something even more unexpected happened: Amy, still asleep, put her legs down, turned slightly, and snuggled into his chest. He froze. He had a sleeping girl on him. _Now what?_

Not that he minded, because now the strawberry smell was even stronger and it was _nice_. Her body pressed against his felt _nice,_ too. He felt protective of her, which outweighed the fact that he was _Robbie Rotten,_ why did he have a pretty girl sleeping on _him_ of all people in Lazytown? What did this girl see in him?

He refused to move out of fear of waking her. She seemed to be getting cold (weird, since it was a really pleasant day outside, he grudgingly admitted), because she kept snuggling into him even more. By now he was getting a bit sore from holding still for so long, and he was slightly hungry. He looked around to see if anyone was passing by that could help him.

Nope, nobody.

Well, this was a predicament.

"Wait," he said out loud, softly. "Help. If I know Sportakook, which I do, I know that he can't refuse helping people. Stupid do-gooder." His words weren't as hateful as they might've been in the beginning of the summer, but his rivalry still laced them. "Help," he whispered, hating that he was resorting to asking his enemy for assistance.

One look at Amy calmed him, though. She looked too peaceful to be woken up by him shuffling around. "Help," he said again, a little louder and with less anger.

Surely enough, mere minutes later, he spotted Sportacus flipping through the air towards them. The blue elf stopped when he saw Robbie, who frantically motioned for him to be quiet. He pointed towards Amy. "She's sleeping," he whispered loudly.

To his credit, Sportacus walked the rest of the way to them. "What's wrong, Robbie?" the superhero asked softly.

"She fell asleep, and I don't want to wake her. She probably should be in her own bed if she's that tired," Robbie found himself saying. Sportacus smiled at him, which only slightly irritated him.

"No problem! I can carry her!" Sportacus crouched down next to them and scooped the sleeping girl up in a swift motion, barely giving Robbie enough time to move his arm from around her. His face twitched in annoyance and worry, but when he saw that Amy remained asleep, he was able to smile. The two began walking back to the Meanswell house. "So…Robbie…may I ask how this happened?" Sportacus asked, still whispering.

Robbie felt his face grow red. "Well…uh…we decided to go to the park today, and I guess she didn't sleep well last night or something, because now she's asleep. And I didn't want to wake her, because she was asleep. So…" he trailed off, hoping that Sportacus wouldn't press the matter.

"Is there something going on between you two?"

Doggone it, Sportaflop.

"No. Yes? No! Yes! Well…" Robbie himself wasn't even sure. "Maybe? I don't know," he admitted.

Sportacus laughed, making Robbie instantly puff up.

"We're friends. That's all," he said firmly.

"Robbie, how long have you lived here in Lazytown?"

Robbie almost stopped in his tracks at the question. "Uhm, forever?" he replied after thinking about it.

"And how often have you ever played games?"

This was a bad direction for questions to be going. He could sense it. "…never," he confessed.

He could hear the smile on Sportaflop's face. "So ever since Amy has been here, you've played a few games and gone outside more often. Is that true?"

"Yes," Robbie reluctantly admitted.

Sportacus stopped walking and turned to face the villain. "Robbie, if she's able to convince you to do all that, and you still want to be friends with her, then I think you should. Do you really like staying inside by yourself all the time?"

This was definitely not a good direction for the conversation to be going. He opened his mouth to lie and say, "Yes. I love it!" But something in Sportacus's eyes stopped him. The almost-hero wanted an honest answer. He glanced at Amy, still asleep. "No," he said quietly. "I mean, sometimes. But not all the time."

Sportacus nodded, and they finished the journey in silence. Robbie knocked on the door for the elf, since his hands were obviously full. The mayor (Mayor Meanswell, he had to remind himself) opened the door. "Hello? Why, it's Sportacus and Robbie Rotten! And Amy! Oh dear, is she okay?" the flustered mayor asked.

Robbie answered, to the shock of the other two. "She's just tired, I think. She fell asleep and Sportako— _Sportacus_ —helped me to get her back here."

"Oh my!" Mayor Meanswell stepped back to allow them into the house. "Her room is this way," he said, leading them down a small hallway. He opened a door, and Robbie couldn't help but be nosy. Her bed was green, which didn't surprise him. Several books were on a desk, along with a green journal. One book had a pen in it as a bookmark. The room was fairly clean, with some more books strewn about here and there. Obviously she liked to read (but he already knew that—the first time he'd met her, she had a book in hand). A green suitcase was in the corner of the room, next to a closet. He got an ominous feeling when he saw the suitcase. She would be leaving soon, wouldn't she?

A sneeze distracted him. He spun around to see Amy waking up as Sportacus was setting her down. She suddenly started coughing on the poor almost-hero (poor? Where had that sympathy come from?). "Whoa. Where am I?" she managed to ask after her coughing fit.

"You're home at Mayor Meanswell's house!" Sportacus explained.

"Wait, what?" She sat up, nearly clocking Sportacus in the head. "But I was at the park with—Robbie!" Her face lit up when she saw him, and he gave her a small smile. She definitely looked pale, he noticed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't sleep well last night cause I was coughing!"

"It seems to me like you have a cold. Were you out in the rain yesterday?" Sportacus asked, concerned.

Robbie suddenly remembered the thunderstorm. She _had_ been in it because she'd left his place when it started. This was _his_ fault. Guilt swarmed his thoughts, and he frowned. That was a feeling he wasn't used to at all.

"Not for _that_ long," he heard Amy say, interrupting the guilty flow of thoughts.

"It's very easy to get sick when you're caught in a sudden rainstorm," Sportacus chided. Amy rolled her eyes and winked at Robbie, who spluttered in response. What was _that_ supposed to mean? And he definitely had those weird butterflies in his stomach again. "You need to stay in bed and rest. Drink lots of fluids and eat lots of sportscandy, otherwise you could be sick for longer than you want to be."

"Yes, Dad," Amy muttered. Sportacus laughed at her sarcasm.

"I'll let Stephanie know you won't be there for the games this afternoon." The slightly-above-average hero smiled at her once more, showing extremely white teeth, and moved as if to leave the room. "Are you coming, Robbie?"

Robbie blinked. He had zoned out after hearing Sportacus mention being sick. The wheels in the scheming side of his brain had started spinning much faster than usual (from misuse, maybe?), forming a plan to get rid of Sportacus. And to possibly keep all the kids of Lazytown in bed, at least for a while. But that wasn't the reason for his zoning out. It was his brain, fighting over whether or not to follow through with this brilliant plot.

On one hand, Amy might find out that he truly was, at his core, rotten, and she wouldn't want to spend any more time with him. On the other hand, if she was sick, how could she find out? It's not like it was a long-term plan—even he knew it would only last a few days at the most.

And if she got better while Sportadoofus was gone, then she would _have_ to spend all her time with him, right?

"Robbie?" Speak of the elf. Sportacus was waving a hand in front of his face. "We should let Amy sleep," he explained.

Robbie shook his head to clear it. "Yes. That's a great idea, Sportafl— _Sportacus_." He forced himself to say the right name. He didn't want anyone to get suspicious, did he? Together, hero and villain exited the room. He was too lost in his thoughts to hear Amy call a quiet, "'Bye, Robbie."

Sportacus followed him out of the house before flipping in the direction of where the kids were likely to be. "She'll be better soon, Robbie," the elf said as a goodbye, then left. Robbie smiled at his back mockingly.

Thus the villainous schemes of Robbie Rotten returned to wreak havoc on Lazytown once more.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sooooo...it's been over a year since I updated this. But like I said before, I will never abandon this. I already know how it's going to go, I just haven't typed it. You'd think that being done with college would mean lots of free time, and yet oddly enough, it doesn't. However, I don't want to give a bunch of excuses for why it's been so long. Instead, please accept my apologies and this update!**

 **To brittany: I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one!**

 **To Doubletrouble14: Admittedly, I drifted away from Lazytown for a while. It's actually the "We're Number One" meme that pulled me back in, and I was all, "I never finished 'Green Bracelet'! I'm going to do that!" Also, the whole Magnus being the name of Amy's 'boyfriend' makes me snicker every time I remember it. I'm glad you enjoyed that, haha.**

Amy slept through the entire rest of the day. When she woke up the following day, she was disoriented. Not to mention slightly feverish and nauseous. She crawled out of her bed to use the bathroom, then slowly crawled back into it, shivering as she got under the blankets. No sooner had she gotten herself situated than she felt a slight itch inside her nose.

"Oh, no—AH-CHOO!" she sneezed. The itch persisted, and she sneezed several more times before the itch stopped.

"Amy?" a small voice asked from across the room. Amy looked up to see Stephanie peeking into the room.

"Oh, hi, Steph," she said with a smile. Well, she hoped it at least resembled a smile. It felt more like a scowl. "What's up?"

"I brought you some breakfast," the pink-haired girl explained, opening the door wider and entering the room.

Amy took one look at the tray of yummy food and felt like she was going to throw up. "Thanks, Steph, but I'm really not feeling like eating right now." She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her mouth.

"But this'll help you feel better!" Stephanie persisted. Amy shook her head, regretting it almost instantaneously. Now she had a headache, too. "At least drink water." Stephanie set the tray down on Amy's desk and brought over a tall glass of water.

Amy took the glass and chugged it. She swallowed a bit too much too fast, though, and started coughing. "Sorry," she apologized in a rough voice when she had stopped. Great, now she'd coughed all over Sportacus _and_ Stephanie. It would be a miracle if they didn't catch her cold.

Stephanie paid no mind to Amy's apology. "It's okay," she said with a smile. "I'm gonna go outside and hang out with the others for a while, but I'll be back to bring you lunch, okay?"

Amy watched as her cousin picked up the tray and left the room. "Thanks, Steph," she called hoarsely. She stared at the closed door for a minute before turning her back to it. "Sleep is good," she mumbled to herself, and was asleep again in moments.

Robbie paced back and forth in front of his disguises. On one hand, this was a perfect opportunity to cause some trouble, and trouble was his middle name! On the other hand, what about Amy? What if she decided not to be friends with him anymore after this? He thought of her in her green bed, sleeping. He mentally glanced about her room but snapped out of it upon spying her suitcase.

It wasn't like their friendship really mattered, did it? She was leaving soon. She would be heading back to school once summer ended, leaving him once more friendless and alone. He would no longer be Robbie, but Robbie Rotten, reclusive and villainous.

The thought darkened his mood and made the decision for him. He pulled down the lever with a sneer. When he'd finished spinning, he was wearing a doctor's coat, complete with that weird thingy that doctors used to listen to people's hearts and such. He also had a small medical bag full of dohickys and whatnots of a doctor-y type.

Robbie grabbed the bag and made his way up to Lazytown, leaving thoughts of how disappointed Amy might be at him below in his home.

Stephanie ran outside to the field where her friends were waiting.

"How is she?" Ziggy asked, empathic as always. "I can give her some of my candy if that'll make her feel better!" He pulled off his backpack to dig out a piece of taffy.

Stephanie smiled at her friend. "Thanks, Ziggy, but Amy just needs to sleep and drink lots of fluids."

"How sick is she, anyway?" Trixie wondered. Stephanie shrugged.

"I don't think she's _that_ sick. She's more tired than anything. She coughs a lot." Stephanie felt a tickling sensation in her nose. She suddenly sneezed and sniffled.

"Are you getting sick, Stephanie?" Ziggy asked, concerned now for his friend.

Stephanie shook her head. "No, I don't think so. It was just a sneeze." She looked at her small group. Even though Amy had only been there for a few weeks, her absence was noticeable. "Okay, so what do we want to play today?"

"I vote we pretend we're pirates!" Ziggy exclaimed, waving around his taffy like a sword. Stephanie laughed.

"That's booo-ring!" Stingy said, rolling his eyes. "I think we should just give me presents all day."

"It's not your birthday, Stingy," Trixie told the spoiled boy. "No presents."

"What if we just hung out in the treehouse?" Pixel suggested.

An idea began to form in Stephanie's mind. "That sounds fun! But what if we made getting to the treehouse a game?"

The other kids stared at her blankly. She grinned. "Let's pretend the ground is lava!" She watched as everyone's eyes widened in excitement. "You can't touch the ground! So we have to jump from place to place." She demonstrated by leaping onto a nearby bench, then from the bench to the wall, where she ran to another bench and jumped to it. "See?"

Her friends immediately started jumping around, trying to avoid the 'lava'. Her grin grew wider as Ziggy pretended to almost fall into the 'lava', only to be pulled up by Pixel. Stingy immediately picked up his piggy bank (why he brought it with him, she would never know) and shouted, "I'll save you, piggy!"

She sneezed, then continued to jump from place to place.

Today would be a fun day, she knew.

She sneezed again.

* * *

Amy heard the doorbell ring, but she didn't think much of it. She groaned and rolled over in an attempt to ignore it. Fortunately, her uncle was home, and she heard him answer the door. There was muffled conversation, Uncle Milford exclaimed, "Oh, dear!" once, and then sounds of agreement. She drank the rest of the water Stephanie had brought her before going back to sleep.

In her sickened state, she hadn't recognized the voice of Robbie Rotten with a superfluous accent as he told her uncle to not give her any fruit or healthy foods, or else she might get worse. She didn't hear as Uncle Milford mentioned that sportscandy was actually supposed to be good for sick people, and as Robbie, under the guise of Dr. Robbenstein, argued against it by claiming that he was a doctor and he knew best. She heard the sounds of agreement, though, and was asleep when her door cracked open and Robbie peeked in.

Robbie closed the door softly before tiptoeing back to the living room. "She's sleeping," he told the mayor gruffly. Part of him was disappointed, but more of him was relieved that she hadn't witnessed his deviousness. "I'm going to go now," he added after a pause.

Mayor Meanswell opened the door for him to leave, but a pink blur rushed in, coughing. Well, to Robbie, everything even remotely fast looked rushed, but then he realized that Pinky was actually moving slower than usual. "Stephanie! Are you okay?" Mayor Meanswell asked her.

Stephanie grabbed a glass of water and took several gulps in an attempt to stop the coughing. "I don't feel so good," she said.

Robbie almost leaped for joy. His plan was working even better than he expected! If Pinky was getting sick, then she'd probably already spread the germs to her rascally friends. Soon they would all be in bed, and he could finally have Lazytown to himself! Well, after he dealt with Sportadoofus and the gross sportscandy, that is.

"Oh dear," Mayor Meanswell said, eyes widening. He looked to Robbie. "Dr. Robbiestein, can you see what's wrong?"

It took Robbie a few moments to realize the mayor was talking to him. "Me?" He pointed to himself.

"You are a doctor, so you can tell what's wrong with Stephanie!"

Robbie looked from the expectant mayor to the pink girl. He could tell right away that she was sick, or starting to be. Her face was flushed, her eyes looked glassy, and she seemed to lack the usual bouncy energy that a small child might have. However, to keep his disguise intact, he knew what he had to do. He dug out his listening device (what the heck was that called? A stethothingy? A listeningscope?) and placed it on the girl's chest. She immediately started coughing. He placed one finger on her forehead to see if it was warm—which it was. "She's sick," he explained plainly. "She needs to get into bed and not move around. _At all._ "

Pinky didn't even argue with him, so sure she was of him. He almost felt _bad_ for tricking her, but why would this make him feel bad?

He knew why and refused to admit it.

"Go to bed, little pink girl," he found himself saying gently. He patted her on the head and turned her towards the hallway. "Now."

She went down the hallway slowly, finally making a left and going into the room next to Amy's. Robbie turned back to the mayor. "Remember what I said about how to make sure they feel better?" he asked.

The mayor nodded. "Keep them in bed, give them soup and water. I remember."

"And?"

"And?" The mayor seemed confused.

"And no sportscandy!" Robbie almost yelled.

Mayor Meanswell nodded. "Oh, yes, I remember now. No sportscandy!"

Robbie went to the front door. "No sportscandy," he reminded the mayor before exiting. He ignored as the mayor called out a thank you, choosing instead to head back to his lair.

When he arrived, he saw what remained of his and Amy's cake. They had been so close to finishing it! But seeing it gave him an idea. He grabbed the rest of the cake and took it to his fake sportscandy machine. Usually, he would dump just plain sugar into it, but this time he had something even _more_ sugary than sugar. He tossed the cake in and pulled the lever. After a few bangs and whistles, out emerged a bright green apple. He stared at the apple for a minute, once again doubtful. He turned away from it and walked towards his costume machine, fully intending to change clothes and go tell the truth to the mayor. He couldn't do it! Not while Amy was in Lazytown, at least.

Without warning, he tripped, stumbling on a random shoe. He fell backwards (which really defied logic, because he should have fallen forward, but only one person in the world can trip and fall like that, and that was Robbie Rotten), landed on a skateboard (why was there a skateboard there?), rolled backwards and bumped a giant button on one of the many machines that crowded his lair. There was a great sucking noise, and he waited for a bit to see what would happen. Nothing happened except a loud thud in the distance, where the entrance to his home was. Robbie extracted himself from the machine and skateboard to investigate. When he lifted up the hatch, however, he was shocked to see a bunch of fruit and veggies all clustered together, hovering mid-air. Once the hatch was fully open, the assorted fruits and vegetables zipped down. He watched them, confused, until he heard another thud come from the lair.

Everything became clear then. He must've fallen against the machine that attracted sportscandy and activated it. Typically, it had to be closer to Lazytown for it to work, but a while back he'd been bored and made some adjustments to it, which apparently enhanced it. "Huh," he said to himself. "That worked much better than I expected."

It was too late now. He'd already told the mayor about no sportscandy, and now he had inadvertently sucked all the healthy food out of Lazytown! No one would believe that it was accident. He was Robbie Rotten, the laziest man ever, who hated healthy stuff and exercise. They would label him 'villain' once more, and nothing he said would change their minds.

Robbie stalked back down the ladder to the green apple. "I might as well," he grumbled. "It's too late now."

Robbie found a small box that he could send up to Sportacus's airship. He scribbled a small note, shoved both it and the apple into the box, and taped it shut. There was no going back. He was a villain, through and through.

* * *

Sportacus woke up feeling a little sluggish, which was very unusual for the almost-hero. He glanced at his clock and felt a twinge of worry: it was 8:15. He usually woke up at 6:00am every single day to ensure maximum health and efficiency as a superhero.

The second thing he noticed was that there was a knock at his door. He jumped out of bed, ready to go, and realized that he was still tired. That was even stranger. Since when was he _tired_?

He went to the door and opened it. There, on the platform outside his door, was a small box. "I've got a package!" he announced happily to himself. He picked up the box and brought it into his home. "Table!" he called. A white table emerged from the wall. He set the box on it and opened it. Inside was a bright green apple and a note. He pulled the note out first.

 _"Sportacus,_

 _Thank you for your help with Amy the other day._

 _Robbie."_

The elf smiled. He knew that Robbie could be a good guy when he wanted to be—it was just a matter of him _wanting_ to be. Amy was bringing out the good in the scheming man, that was for sure. He only hoped the changes lasted once Amy left.

He took a look at the apple. It looked delicious and healthy. It was good to see that Robbie was trying. He would've expected a piece of cake from the man (which he wouldn't have eaten, but would have appreciated nonetheless). Suddenly, Sportacus sneezed. He froze after recovering. He was not supposed to sneeze unless there was an abundance of pepper in the air. Why was he sneezing?

Was he getting _sick_?

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away," he said loudly. He grabbed the apple, threw it in the air once, and took a big bite out of it.

* * *

He immediately fell to the floor, unconscious from all the sugar that had been inside the disguised apple.

"Do we have any orange juice?" Amy asked her uncle as he bustled into the room with breakfast. "I'm craving orange juice." Her voice was gravelly from all her coughing and sneezing.

"We do not have any orange juice. We are out," her uncle replied. "And besides, the doctor told me that you were to not have sportscandy."

Amy scrunched up her face in confusion, but relaxed when that gave her a headache. "What doctor?"

Uncle Milford set a tray on her desk that contained a bowl of cereal. "Dr. Robbiestein, dear. He came over yesterday."

She vaguely remembered hearing voices yesterday, so that made sense. She saw the bowl of cereal and promptly forgot about asking her uncle more details, because she had barely eaten yesterday and she was _hungry_. Uncle Milford made a contented noise and left the room, presumably to bring food to Stephanie, who was also sick now. Who knew a cold could be so contagious?

After she gulped down the cereal, she felt sleepy again. She trudged back to bed and went right back to sleep.

The next time she woke up, she was once again hungry. She meandered out of her room and into the kitchen. At first she was confused because no one else seemed to be awake, then she glanced at a clock and saw that it was just after one in the morning. "That would explain that," she muttered to herself.

No longer concerned about the lack of people, she opened the fridge to grab some juice. Except…there wasn't any juice in the fridge! "That's weird," she said. She examined every drawer, hoping maybe for some grapes or something. Try as she might, there was no fruit or veggies in the fridge. She turned to see if maybe they were on the counter. Nope. Nothing. "That's even weirder." She sat on a nearby stool. "I'm hungry and all I can find is non-healthy food." She frowned. "This sounds like one of Robbie's evil schemes that Stephanie told me about."

She sneezed, effectively ruining her train of thought. "I guess I'll just drink water, then." She rose from the stool, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water. She carried the glass back to her room, where she sat on her bed and started reading. "Stupid sickness ruining my sleep schedule," she grumbled.

She finally fell back asleep around 3am.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Well...this is a very Robbie-centric chapter, but I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it.**

Robbie was bored. Like, even more bored than usual. "I don't understand!" he yelled to his empty room. "All of the kids are sick, so there's no more running and playing around. Sportaloser is in a sugar coma, so he isn't flip-flopping all over the place. I finally have peace and quiet, and no one can eat any sportscandy in the whole of Lazytown!" He stretched his arms towards his sportscandy magnet. Then he dropped them sadly. "So then why am I not happy?"

A part of him knew _exactly_ why. He knew that a face framed by green hair laughing alongside him would solve all his problems. But she was sick, just like everyone else, so that wouldn't work. Unless… _unless he gave her sportscandy_. That's what she needed, according to Sportacus. Wasn't he always saying that healthy food could do anything?

Robbie rushed over to the giant machine and plucked off an orange and an apple. He stumbled over a rug in his excitement, but got up immediately, without even an, "I meant to do that". Soon, he was outside the Meanswell house, the two fruit in hand. He knocked rapidly on the door, eager to see Amy.

Mayor Meanswell opened the door slowly. "Yes?" he asked, confused as to who would be knocking on his door so early in the morning. Oddly enough, it was Robbie Rotten of all people, who practically ran into the house and down the hall to Amy's room. "Aww, Robbie missed Amy," the mayor smiled to himself.

Robbie didn't care about manners at this point. He went straight into Amy's room, where he found her sleeping on top of her bed, a book opened in her hands. She startled awake at the sound of him bursting in.

"Robbie?" she asked groggily.

He threw the orange at her, triumphant in his quest. The orange soared gracefully through the air and bonked Amy in the head. He winced. Amy rubbed her head, disoriented from just waking up and the sudden tenderness in her temple. "I am so sorry," the purple man said, rushing over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Amy smiled at him before feeling around for what had hit her. Her hands closed around the cool orange, and she moved her book aside before setting the orange in her lap. "Did you bring me this?" she asked.

Robbie nodded his head frantically, still worried that she might be mad about being hit in the head. Instead of a reprimand, however, she grinned, and her eyes eliminated any worries the villain had. She suddenly threw her arms around him, which was slightly awkward for both of them, since she was still in bed and he was still standing.

"Thanks, Robbie," she mumbled, head pressed into his chest.

Robbie hadn't realized how much he missed Amy and her hugs until this moment. He inhaled, and her strawberry scent filled his nostrils with wonderful familiarity. _I missed you_ , he wanted to say, but he refrained. Instead, he just let the embrace continue until Amy finally pulled back, although was it just him, or did she pull away slowly, almost reluctantly?

In fact, his suspicions regarding her reluctance had been correct, although he wouldn't know that since Amy would never tell him such a thing. As much as she loved reading and napping, after all of her running around for the past few weeks, she was used to being active. Having her routine disturbed by a stupid cold was annoying. Not being able to spend time with Robbie because of a stupid cold was even more annoying.

She could hardly believe her eyes when she'd opened them: Robbie Rotten, in her bedroom, at…what, like 9am (a quick glance at her clock confirmed the time)? This was Robbie Rotten! Stephanie had told her stories about his laziness. Heck, she'd even witnessed it firsthand! Yet here he was, at her house, in the morning, and with fruit to boot!

She would've chalked it up to a dream if he hadn't thrown the orange at her. The slight soreness of her head indicated that this was, in fact, not a dream. And then he'd approached her (was that an _apple_ in his hand?), and she couldn't help it—she hugged him. He smelled like vanilla frosting (which made her smile into his chest because she could very easily picture him scarfing cake while she was preoccupied with her cold). His body was also pleasantly warm, and she wanted to absorb his body heat for herself. That's what she got for not getting back under the covers. Surely sleeping without blankets wasn't exactly good for recovering from a cold. Although, truth be told, she was feeling much better, and seeing Robbie only made her more eager to fully recover.

It was then that she became aware that they were still hugging. Slowly, she pulled back, feeling a tad awkward for having been holding onto him for so long. He sat down on the bed, leaving about a foot between them. "So…" she said, smiling in an attempt to conceal her flushed cheeks (because everyone knows that smiling when you're blushing doesn't mean anything), "what have you been up to?"

Robbie abruptly grew agitated. "Me?" he repeated, pointing to himself. "Well…I, uh…haven't been doing much! That's for sure!" He wasn't making eye contact with her, which was kind of weird, but then again, maybe he was reacting to the prolonged human contact. "You know me. I'm lazy. I don't do anything." His hands were flailing as he spoke, the apple having fallen into his lap. "Except sleep and eat cake! That's what I did!"

She wondered if he was hiding something from her. Then she found herself wondering if maybe, just maybe, he had missed her as much as she'd missed him. And if that was indeed the case, maybe his overreactions were his own way of trying not to let his true feelings show.

Or maybe she was imagining it all. That was also a possibility. "That sounds…fun?" She picked up the book she'd been reading and dog-eared the page for when she'd be able to return to it. "I've literally been sleeping or reading this whole time. As nice as it's been, I'm starting to get kind of restless, you know?" She sighed and set the book aside.

"Yeah, I think I do," Robbie muttered, which caught her off-guard. She took the time to _really_ look at him. There was a subtle shift in his whole demeanor—almost like he'd been _sad_. At the very least, he must've been lonely. Stephanie had once mentioned his contradictory desires for both solitude and inclusion to her.

"Couldn't you have hung out with the other kids or Sportacus?" she couldn't resist asking.

Robbie's hands began to fidget as he mumbled, "They're all sick, too."

Amy wanted to reach out and place her hands on top of his in an attempt at comfort, because the poor guy seemed a little distressed. But hugs were one thing, especially when they hadn't seen each other in a while. Even those he seemed reluctant to accept, almost like he didn't want anyone touching him. Out of respect for him, she remained how she was, although she continued to pay close attention to him. However, something he'd said didn't make much sense.

"Everyone's sick? Even Sportacus? I thought he couldn't get sick 'cause he's, like, the epitome of perfect health."

Robbie's hands started to fidget faster. He picked up the apple and was turning it around over and over again. "Well…I, uh…haven't seen Sportadoof—kook! Sportakook! I mean…" The apple suddenly fell to the floor, and his body gave an involuntary jump at the soft thud it made. He still wasn't looking at her.

"Robbie?"

"What?" he snapped, finally looking at her. Well, more like glaring at her.

Amy flinched at the harshness. "Nevermind," she said quietly.

Robbie huffed and crossed his arms. "Whatever."

Amy blinked at him in disbelief. Whatever he was dealing with wasn't her business, she recognized, but for him to be reacting this grumpily at her? After she'd been stuck inside for this long with nothing to eat but sugary foods or water? "What is your _problem_?" she demanded, throwing her arms out in frustration.

Robbie leapt to his feet. "Nothing!"

"Somehow I find that hard to believe!"

He huffed again. "I'm _fine_! _You're_ the one that has a problem!" He bent down and retrieved the apple he'd dropped. "I'm going home to take a nap!" He brandished the apple at her. "And I'm taking this with me!" He spun around and stomped towards her door.

Amy stared at the purple-clad man, mouth open, with no clue how to express her growing frustration. Finally, she found words to describe her feelings: "Fine! Leave!" Childish words, perhaps, but they got the message across.

Robbie yanked on the doorknob, somehow managing to smack his knuckles into the door in the process, but he didn't even take the time to stop and say, 'Ow!'. He just stalked out the door, clenching the apple in his left hand. He didn't even notice the pink-haired girl whom he'd stomped by as he exited Amy's room; his mind was focused on getting the heck outta that room, that house, just _out_ of there.

When he was finally outside, he continued his angry march to the playing field, which had a few sports balls still on it. He kicked at one ball as hard as he possibly could. Somehow, despite his complete lack of coordination or athletic abilities, his foot managed to connect with the ball, sending it flying into another part of town. He watched it until it was a tiny speck that fell behind a building, then collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. He remained like that for a good few minutes, just lying on the ground and gasping for air. Once his breathing slowed, he thought back to what had just occurred.

"What have I done?" he asked the sky. It didn't answer. He sat up abruptly with an angry frown. As he sat like that for a few seconds, his angry frown turned into a sad frown. "I can't tell her about what I did. What if she hates me?" He could picture her reaction now—she would scorn him and leave him and Lazytown forever, and then go home to Magnus, where she'd stay happily, never thinking about Robbie Rotten again.

"What do I do?" he asked, this time raising his arms at the sky. His eyes spotted the apple still clenched in his hand, and he lowered his arms gently. "This was supposed to be for Amy." He stared at the glossy red apple. His own face stared back him, warped from the curve of the fruit. He could see the guilt he felt from his actions reflected in his tiny apple eyes. With a huff, he prepared to toss the disgusting sportscandy (and his guilt) far, far away from him, but at that moment, a shadow fell across his legs. He looked up a third time to see Sportacus's airship soaring slowly overhead.

He truly was a villain, wasn't he? The one person that had truly paid attention to him, that had _understood_ him, he'd yelled at. Good guys didn't yell at their friends. Good guys didn't steal all the healthy food from their friends just so they could have some peace and quiet. Good guys didn't sneak a fake apple to an overly-energized elf just to prevent him from flipping all over the place. Those were all traits of a villain.

But if this was being a villain, why did he feel so bad and lonely? He hadn't always felt this way; it happened once Pinky and Sportaloser had become main components of the town. Before that, everyone had listened to him. Then they'd come and changed everything, and nobody paid ol' Robbie Rotten any mind. Until Amy. She had paid attention to him—she listened when he talked, and she took him seriously, for the most part. She laughed at him, but it was okay when she did it. And as different as they were, they also had much more in common than he could ever have with the rest of the townsfolk. He _wanted_ a friend, but she was the only one he was _willing_ to be friends with.

"What have I done?" he repeated sadly.

He knew the answer to that question, though. What he needed now was a response, someone to tell him how to fix it.

The shadow of the airship had reached his upper body now. "I need help," he said. Then his eyes widened in realization. "I need HELP!" He jumped to his feet. "All of the other kids are sick, so I can't talk to them. (Not that I'd want to, anyways.) But that stupid do-gooder will know what to do!"

Robbie pointed his left index finger at the airship, happy about his brilliant new plan. Except there was one small problem: Sportaflop was in a sugar coma, presumably.

"Well, that was a good idea while it lasted," he muttered, putting his hand down. His right thumb stroked the apple absentmindedly until he realized he was still holding the apple. Another idea occurred to him. "I suppose…I could give Sportadoofus this apple. That would fix him, right?"

All past attempts to put the elf into a sugar coma had been thwarted by him eating fruit. It was a logical conclusion.

"But how to get it to him?" the villain wondered. He scratched his head as he tried to remember how the almost-hero got into his flying home. "Didn't he have a ladder or something?"

No sooner had he finished his sentence than a rope ladder smacked him on the head, effectively knocking him over. "Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head. He looked at the rope ladder and back up at the airship, which now seemed so very high up in the air. He felt himself grow dizzy once he saw how high up he would need to climb.

"You know what? Maybe I don't need his help after all."

Robbie got to his feet, dusted himself off, and turned to go back home. As he began to walk off the field, he spotted a basketball. He scoffed and prepared to ignore it, but the memories of a basketball game at a welcoming party started to mentally bombard him. He remembered that day so well—the announcement of Pinky's cousin's arrival, meeting the green Amy, her being so friendly even though she had no idea who he was. He remembered how she'd grabbed his hand and pulled him onto towards the party, how she'd stood by him even when the children questioned his appearance, how she'd somehow talked him into a game of basketball. He remembered the way she'd smiled at him when he'd somehow made a basket and the fuzzy-flippy feeling it had given him.

"Oh, alright!" he said, spinning around and marching back to the ladder. He didn't allow himself to second-guess what he was about to do in any way because if he did, he wouldn't be able to do it. Instead, he remembered the way he felt when he was with Amy. He focused on that feeling, allowing it to push him up, up, up the ladder, ignoring his fear of heights. He had a friendship to mend, and this was the only way he could truly fix it.

Somehow, he made it all the way up without falling or dropping the apple. A platform lowered itself for him to climb onto, which he promptly did, wrapping his arms tightly around the center pole. He squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't see just how far up he was, relying purely on the feeling of the platform stopping as an indication that he was on board the ship.

Tentatively, he opened one eye, then the other. "I…did it?" he asked himself, surprised. A small part of him hadn't actually thought he'd get this far, yet somehow, he had.

A groan alerted him to Sportacus's whereabouts. He forced himself to let go of the platform pole and stumbled to the blue hero. "Sportakook?" he asked, poking the unconscious man. Another groan was the response, but Sportacus didn't open his eyes.

Robbie sighed and held the apple under the hero's nose. "Wakey-wakey, Sportsy," he said. The hero didn't move. "Do I have to do everything myself?" Robbie 'hmmph'ed, and used one finger to pull the hero's chin down, opening his mouth. Making a face at the situation, Robbie put the apple just barely in Sportacus's mouth, then used his one finger to push his chin back up, making the hero take a small bite.

With a start, Sportacus's eyes opened, and he rolled over while grabbing the apple. He took another bite, a much, much bigger one, and did a backwards somersault that resulted in him getting to his feet. Robbie jumped away from the hero, but that only got his attention.

"Robbie?" Sportacus asked in confusion, staring at the purple-clad man. "I must be dreaming."

Robbie smiled sheepishly and gave a little wave. "Nope. Not dreaming. It's me, Robbie Rotten!"

"But how—I need more sportscandy." Sportacus's hand shot up as he took another bite of the apple. "Banana!"

Robbie ducked as a banana flew over his head into Sportacus's open hand. Soon, the apple was gone, and the hero had peeled the banana.

"I don't feel so good," Sportacus said after taking a bite. He looked around to see if anyone else was there besides Robbie. He saw no one else, then a hit of green caught his keen eyes. The apple Robbie had sent him! "Robbie? What's going on?"

Robbie sighed and slouched down. "I…did something really bad," he admitted, looking at the floor.

To his surprise, Sportacus didn't look at him meanly. He simply stood there, eating the banana, waiting patiently to hear Robbie's story.

"I, well, uh…I tried to do something that I shouldn't have done, and I think I messed everything up forever." Man, being truthful and admitting something you did was _hard_. "Amy was sick, and that gave me an idea to make _you_ sick, because if you were sick, you couldn't be jumping all over the place and I could finally have peace and quiet. But then I tripped and stole all the healthy food from Lazytown, and I tricked you and Amy's going to hate me and she won't wanna be friends with me anymore and I just don't know what to do." Robbie wiped his forehead after he'd finished saying everything. "Whew. That was a lot more difficult than I thought it'd be."

He spared a moment to look up from the floor to Sportacus, who still wasn't looking at him meanly, oddly enough. It actually looked like he _understood_. Robbie couldn't stand it anymore, so he sat down.

"Water," the almost-hero said calmly, walking over to a table. Two glasses of water appeared from some sort of tube, and he threw his banana peel away to be able to grab both glasses. Then he walked over to Robbie and handed him a glass.

Robbie accepted it, but didn't drink it.

Sportacus took a long sip before sitting down next to Robbie. "Did you come all the way up here to wake me up?" he asked softly.

Robbie sighed. "Yes."

"Why?"

"I…I wantedtofixmymistake."

"What?"

"I wanted to fix my mistake!"

There were a few seconds of silence before he spoke again. "Why did you want to fix it?"

"Because…" Robbie hesitated. Did he really want to admit everything to his most hated enemy? His most hated enemy who had calmly…listened to his story…and not yelled at him at all, but had brought him a glass of water? Was Sportacus even really his enemy? Sure, he was the opposite of everything Robbie stood for, but he'd _listened_ , and that wasn't something an enemy did. That was something a friend did.

"Because I don't want Amy to be mad at me," Robbie muttered, staring intently at his shoes. He felt his face get warm at the admittance, but he couldn't take it back now, nor did he want to.

"You and Amy are good friends, aren't you?" Sportacus asked in that same quiet tone.

Robbie nodded.

"So you came all the way up here to help me, even though you hate me, and you want to fix what you've done because you don't want to upset your friend."

Robbie dared to peek at Sportacus, who was _smiling_ , of all things!

Sportacus placed a hand on Robbie's shoulder. "Robbie, I think that's wonderful," the blue-hero said proudly. "You're taking responsibility, and that's not always easy to do. But you're doing it because you care about someone, and that's one of the most selfless things a person can do."

"Selfless?" Robbie repeated, having never considered that word before.

"Selfless. It's the opposite of selfish. It means you're doing something for someone else instead of for yourself."

Robbie nodded briefly. "Yes?" he said as an attempt at confirming what Sportacus had told him. "I guess it was selfless. Huh." He frowned. "Never thought I'd do something like that."

Sportacus laughed. "But you did, and that's what matters!" He jumped to his feet. "Orange!" he called, and an orange flew through the air. He ran towards a nearby wall and jumped, flipping off of it and catching the orange easily.

Robbie rolled his eyes.

"You said you accidentally stole the sportscandy from Lazytown?" Sportacus asked as he began to peel the orange.

"Yes?"

"So all you need to do is return it and apologize!"

Robbie got to his feet. "I have to _apologize_? Can't I just give it all back and let that be the end of it?"

Sportacus raised his eyebrows at him. Robbie sighed.

"Fine. I'll do that. But first, you have to do one thing."

Sportacus had already completely peeled the orange by now and taken a bite. "Yes?"

Robbie pointed towards the giant glass window at the front of the blimp. "Can you get me back to the ground?"

The almost-hero's eyes twinkled and he grinned. "Of course!" he exclaimed happily.

Robbie felt his face twitch into a little half-smile. He _could_ fix this. And maybe he and Amy could stay friends, even after everything he'd done. In fact, he was feeling rather hopeful about the entire situation.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I hope everyone had good holidays! I wanted to get another chapter out before New Year's, and this one is kinda long, so I felt like I should go ahead and post it. Originally, it would be even longer, but I felt like it would be better to stop when I did, if that makes sense.**

 **Enjoy!**

Stephanie knocked on Amy's door, stifling a cough at the same time. There was an annoying tickle in the back of her throat, but she didn't want to get water for it right now.

"What?" she heard Amy yell from the other side.

"It's me, Stephanie," the pink-haired girl replied, pressing her ear against the door to hear better. "Can I come in?"

"Fine."

She opened the door slowly, just in case Amy suddenly changed her mind. She'd heard her uncle when he'd opened the door, and had peeked out of her bedroom to investigate the mysterious visitor. Her mouth had fallen open when she saw it was Robbie, and then he'd gone into Amy's room and shut the door. That was unusual enough, so in her curiosity, she'd tiptoed out of her room and pressed her ear up against Amy's door to listen in. She knew that it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she couldn't resist. When the two of them had started yelling, and Robbie's voice and footsteps grew rapidly louder, she rushed back down the hall to make it seem like she'd just left the bathroom. Robbie had flung the door open and stormed out, a red apple in hand and an angry expression on his face. He didn't even notice her watch him leave. She'd given Amy a minute before daring to approach, but she also wanted to make sure that her cousin was okay.

Amy was sitting on her bed, legs drawn up and arms around them, resting her chin on her knees. She looked irritated and confused, and she glared at Stephanie when she entered the room. Once she saw that it was Stephanie, however, she softened her gaze.

"What's up?" the green-haired girl asked quietly.

Stephanie weighed her options. She could admit that she'd been eavesdropping or she could pretend she'd only seen Robbie leave. Quickly, she chose the first. Honesty was the best policy. "I heard you and Robbie yelling," she said.

Amy grimaced. "Were we that loud?"

"No. I was listening by your door," Stephanie admitted, looking at her feet. She was surprised when Amy gave a short laugh.

"I guess I should've expected that." Amy patted the bed, indicating for Stephanie to join her. Once Stephanie was sitting on the bed, she sighed and set her legs down.

"Did you have a fight?"

Amy looked up at the ceiling and flopped down onto her pillow. "I guess? I don't know." She sat up to look at Stephanie. "I mean, he just came over to visit and give me this." She picked up a peeled orange that had been sitting in her windowsill.

Stephanie gasped. "Robbie Rotten gave you an orange?" Well, that was unheard of! What had her cousin done to the purple villain to make him willing to give her sportscandy? Was it possible that Robbie was… _changing_?

"Yep. He brought an apple, too, but he took that back when he left. Anyways, so we were just sitting and talking, and I asked him what he'd been up to, and he said nothing because everyone was sick. So I said, 'Everyone? Even Sportacus?' and then he got really defensive. And he wouldn't give me a straight answer, and then he got really snappy and it was weird and then he yelled and I yelled and then he left." She pulled the orange apart as she spoke and offered Stephanie a piece.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Amy popped a slice into her mouth and chewed it. After she'd swallowed, she continued. "I shouldn't have yelled. I know that, but he was just being so childish and evasive and I was frustrated and just uhhhhgh!" She ate another orange slice and fell back down to the pillow.

Stephanie chewed her slice and felt the invigorating power of sportscandy begin to fill her. Suddenly the tickle in her throat didn't feel so prominent now. "Do you think maybe he did something while we've all been sick?"

"I dunno," was Amy's response as she held up her arms. "I mean, he was being shifty, but I thought maybe he…" She dropped her arms.

"Maybe he what?" Stephanie pressed, leaning closer.

Amy looked up at her, and Stephanie was amused to see a hint of pink on her older cousin's cheeks. "Maybe he was embarrassed to admit that he missed me?" she mumbled. The pink darkened, and Stephanie grinned, pleased with her cousin's obvious feelings. "What?" Amy asked at her reaction.

Stephanie shrugged. "I just think you two are cute," she answered.

Amy sat up. "Cute? Cute? You think we're cute?" By now her face was the color of Ziggy's cape. Stephanie could almost feel the heat from her poor cousin, but she couldn't resist her teasing.

"Yep. I very much think so," the pink girl affirmed with a wider grin. "Veeeeery cute."

Amy flopped back down with a groan. She was practically doing sit-ups at this rate, Stephanie noted. "Is it that obvious?"

"Is what obvious?"

"That I have a crush on Robbie."

Stephanie jumped off the bed at the admittance. "I knew it!" she cheered, throwing her hands up.

Amy glared at her before rolling over to hide her face in her pillow. "Merrrrr," she murmured into her pillow. Stephanie laughed again.

"You're the only person who's convinced him to do anything sportsy, Amy. That says a lot." Well, unless you counted all the times he did sports in order to rid Lazytown of Sportacus, which she wasn't. "I think that says a lot about how both you and him feel."

"Really?" same the response from the pillow. Amy turned her head to look at Stephanie. "You don't think I'm being presumptuous?"

Stephanie waved her hand nonchalantly. "Nah."

And back to the pillow. Stephanie had half a mind to pull it out from under Amy so she couldn't keep hiding in it.

Amy said something unintelligible. Stephanie rolled her eyes and grabbed the pillow from her.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Hey! That's mine!" Amy reached for the pillow, but Stephanie held it out of reach. After a few attempts at grabbing it, Amy sighed. "I said, I don't want to freak him out or anything. I just want to be friends with him first."

Stephanie snuggled the pillow. "Friends don't yell at each other and not apologize," she chided, wagging a finger.

"I knooooow." Amy sat up and put her legs over the edge of the bed. "I'd better find him and talk to him." She sighed again. "At least I'm feeling better. Here." She tossed the rest of her orange to Stephanie, who caught it easily after dropping the pillow. "You can have that." She rose from her bed and went to her closet, where she pulled out some light green capris and a baseball tee.

Stephanie took that as her cue to leave. As she walked out of the room, she heard Amy call out a soft, "Thanks." She smiled to herself. "That's what cousins are for," she replied.

Amy laughed, and then Stephanie was gone, leaving Amy alone to get dressed. She did so quickly, pulling her hair into a ponytail instead of its usual two braids. Oddly enough, the few slices of orange she'd eaten had given her much more energy than she'd expected. Maybe there was some sort of magic in the 'sportscandy' of Lazytown. She shrugged off the thought as she pulled on her green tennis shoes. It wasn't important. She could deal with that later if she really wanted to, but now, she needed to talk to Robbie.

She walked out of the Meanswell house and promptly began scanning her surroundings for Robbie, who was nowhere in sight. "Where are ya?" she asked as she checked a nearby park bench. He wasn't there, asleep or awake. She debated between checking the playing field or the park next. It wouldn't make much sense for Robbie to go to the field, so she chose the park. However, as she continued her search, she could find no sign of the purple-clad villain. She began to feel a little nervous. "Where is he? Is he avoiding me?"

The wind blew softly, but that was the only response she received.

"Did I make him that mad?" she wondered as she came across the bench she'd taken a nap on, way back during the start of their…whatever it was. Was it friendship? Yes, she had a crush on him, and yes, she considered him a friend. Did he feel the same? Why did she even like him so much, anyways? "I mean, besides the fact that he makes me laugh, and he's got pretty good taste in cake, and he smells really nice, and now I'm just rambling and listing all these things that I like about him. Sure hope he's not standing behind me or anything." She glanced behind her, almost hoping that he was actually there, even if that meant an awkward confession. Sadly, he wasn't.

"Well, for once in my life, Murphy's Law is not working against me. I'm not sure whether to be thankful or disappointed." She sat down on the bench, taking a moment to wish that she'd brought her backpack. "Alright, Amy. Let's think. He left the house. Where would he go? Not to the field. Apparently not the park." She stared at a nearby tree in the hopes that it would inspire her for more locations. "Did he go all the way back to his home?" She squinted at the tree as if it would reveal the answer. It didn't. It simply rustled in the breeze.

"You're maddenly unhelpful," she said under her breath. She sucked in a deep breath and stood. "Fine. I'll check his place, and if he's not there, then I'll…ask Sportacus for help, I guess. That sound like a plan?" She looked to the tree. "Why do I keep asking you? You're a tree. You can't talk." She huffed and began the trek to Robbie's home.

"I mean, we weren't _really_ yelling as much as we were just raising our voices in an immature manner," she said to herself as she walked. "But he was being so evasive! I just wanted to know what was going on so I could maybe help." She sighed. "I probably shouldn't have kept pushing. I've been around him enough to know that he doesn't like being questioned. Or hugged. But that couldn't have been the issue…could it?" Her eyes widened at the thought. "Oh, shoot, did I freak him out with my hug? I didn't think about it—I just saw him and then he was right there and I reacted!" She facepalmed herself. "Idiot! Stupid, stupid Amy!"

She could see the billboard that served as an indication that she was almost there. "Does that mean I should apologize for the hug? Or do I ignore it and just say I'm sorry for yelling? Wait, what if _he_ doesn't apologize? What if he just ignores me because he doesn't actually want to be friends with me and he just wants me to leave Lazytown?" She stopped in her tracks.

"He wouldn't want that. Would he?"

She rubbed her face. "Knock it off, Amy. You're just stressing yourself out even more. Whether he apologizes or not, you reacted to him, and you still need to amend that. Although I will be bitter if he doesn't recognize that he overreacted, too."

She resumed her walking, going through the billboard's hidden door and to the domed entrance to the Rotten home. "Yep, I will definitely be bitter if that happens," she muttered as she pulled open the hatch. "Robbie?" she called down, knowing that he probably wouldn't hear her even if he was there. She heard the echoes of her voice but no response. "Alright. It's not weird to keep going into his place uninvited, is it?"

She began to descend down the blue ladder, talking to herself the whole way. "Nah. It's not weird at all. And by that I mean it's totally normal because we're friends. Yeah. Friends. Friends go into each other's houses all the time. That's a thing."

When she got to the main area, it was obvious that Robbie was not home. The nervousness Amy felt had grown steadily the closer she'd gotten to his place, and now it was making her borderline paranoid. "Maybe he _is_ avoiding me," she said sadly.

A soft thud caught her attention. She went in the direction of the noise and froze when she saw a giant machine that was covered from top to bottom in fruit and vegetables. "Holy guacamole!" she gasped. "Is this why I couldn't find anything to eat except unhealthy stuff?" She stepped closer to investigate. There were three buttons on one sportscandy-less (great, now she was saying it) rectangle. One button was green and glowing, obviously an 'on' button. The next button was yellow, and the final button was red. She assumed that the red button was either 'off' or potentially a self-destruct, but what was the yellow button for?

"Well…it can't hurt, can it?" she said with a shrug. "My inability to leave things alone is gonna come back to haunt me one day." With that, she pressed the yellow button. There was a great 'whooooooosh!', and she dropped to the ground as fruit and veggies of all shapes and sizes suddenly flew past her back through the entrance tunnel. She cringed, expecting to hear a loud smacking as everything hit the wall, but it didn't come. When she'd confirmed that no more fruit was going to fly around and catch her unawares, she rose to her knees. A few stray fruits and veggies littered the floor, but the vast majority was gone to who-knows-where.

"Ten out of ten, was not expecting," was the only thing she could say. Well, that and, "Where the heck does Robbie get this stuff from?"

She picked up a discarded strawberry that still looked ripe. After wiping it off with her shirt, she bit into it. It tasted wonderful and fresh, which didn't really make sense because she was pretty sure it must've been down here for at least a day, if not two, and as cool as it was, Robbie's home was no refrigerator. But wait a minute—she was in Robbie's home, and she'd just found a bunch of fruit and veggies—Robbie had done this!

"You know, I had a hard time believing Stephanie when she described some of Robbie's schemes to me, but now, I'm starting to believe her." She picked up another strawberry. "I guess this is what he was up to while I was sick."

She surveyed the scene. Part of her, an increasingly large part, wanted to leave the mess for him to deal with. Being confronted with his villainistic actions bothered Amy's conscience. However, it also clarified the need for a conversation. She sighed, knowing that he would be home eventually. "I guess I'm gonna clean this up a bit."

She went to work.

"I suppose I should say thanks," Robbie told the blue superhero once he'd gotten up from hugging the ground. Heights and Robbie Rotten did _not_ go together.

Sportacus crossed his arms and smiled. "It was no problem," he replied. He offered a hand to Robbie, who took it and immediately regretted it because Sportacus's freakishly strong grip was crushing his hands as he shook it rapidly. "You know what you need to do now, right?"

Robbie looked in the direction of his lair. "Yes," he acknowledged resentfully. As guilty as he felt, he still had his pride, and it was sore from his admittance of his deeds and the apologies he was going to have to continue making.

"Good!" he heard Sportacus exclaim, but something caught his eye. A dark cloud was coming at them from the direction of his lair. It was moving quite fast, and the closer it got, the more colorful it became. "What is that?" Sportacus asked, bewildered.

Robbie squinted. It almost looked like—"Sportscandy?" he wondered. A few seconds of it getting even closer confirmed his suspicions.

"What? Sportscandy?"

It was moving rapidly and aimed directly for them! Robbie had just enough time to shriek and grab Sportacus's arm to pull him down as the cloud of fruit and vegetables shot over their heads. An apple (boy, was he getting sick of those things) bounced off of his head, earning an, "OW!" from the poor villain. He rubbed his head and glanced up to make sure no more stray apples would attack him.

Sportacus was standing by now, even more confused. "Robbie, what was that?" the hero demanded.

Robbie slowly rose, hands out in what he hoped was an innocent gesture. "Sportscandy?" he offered as an answer.

"I can see that! But where did it come from? I thought you said you'd stolen it all."

Robbie's eyes widened as he realized that he had, in fact, said that. Which meant that someone had gone down to his lair and pushed the yellow 'reverse' button. "But who would go all the way there and do that?" he wondered out loud.

The answer hit him almost as suddenly as the apple had. "Amy!" And that meant that she knew that he'd been the one to steal it all! He needed to get to her as soon as possible so he could explain everything.

"Where are you going?" Sportacus called after Robbie. He received no answer from the lanky man, who was currently running as fast as he could (which…well…wasn't _that_ fast, but at least he was trying) in the direction the sportscandy had come from. Sportacus knew that this was also the direction of Robbie's lair, and he put two and two together easily. Amy must've been looking for Robbie and gone to his home, where she saw the results of Robbie's mischief before he had a chance to fix it.

But that wasn't something Robbie needed his help with. He had a duty to ensure that the children he cared about received the sportscandy and water they needed to get better.

Sportacus turned away from the sight of Robbie (still flailing as he ran, but he'd covered a surprising amount of distance already) and readied himself. With his signature arm movement, the slightly-above-average superhero took off to find where the sportscandy had returned.

"Well, that was fun," Amy commented, nodding at the pile of fruit and vegetables that was currently on one of Robbie's blue tables. There wasn't as much fruit as she'd expected there to be, but then again, she'd been snacking on the cleaner-looking ones. She hadn't realized how much she loved the taste of fresh fruit until she'd been deprived of it for a few days. "Now what?"

She munched on a banana while considering her choices. She could leave now, or she could wait for Robbie to return. "Aww, I already know what I'm doing. He's gotta come back sometime today, right?" She stretched her arms out above her head and yawned. "I'm not tired. Why would I be tired? I've been sleeping so much." She shook her head in an attempt to get energized. It didn't really work, so she did a mini-jog up to Robbie's costume tubes. The clothes were different from what she'd seen last time, with a doctor's outfit, a cowboy outfit, a baseball outfit, what looked like an exact replica of Sportacus's costume (and as weird as that was, she was sorely tempted to try it on), and a monogrammed maroon robe with a nightcap and pajamas. She smiled at the initials on the robe, imagining Robbie wearing it and snoring on the orange chair.

She stopped in front of the doctor's outfit. For some reason, it made her think about how a doctor had apparently come to visit the Meanswell household when she'd been sleeping. She leaned back against the railing, studying the outfit. Was it possible that the doctor had been Robbie in disguise? But surely everyone knew what he looked like—how the heck did a disguise fool anyone? The thought unsettled her, and she moved on to the Sportacus costume replica. He had the clothes exact, down to the beanie cap and goggles and even a fake mustache. The idea of Robbie wearing that was equal parts hilarious and bizarre.

"I still wanna know how this thing works," she muttered, glancing at the piano and back to the assorted costumes. "And where does he get all of these? Does he make them?"

She sighed, which morphed into a yawn. "Come on, Robbie. I'm tired and I wanna take a nap." She jumped onto the railing and sat on it, feet swinging back and forth in her impatience. To amuse herself, she tried picturing Robbie in the various outfits and what his schemes might have been. The Sportacus costume was easy, and she'd already figured out the doctor's outfit. But the cowboy and the baseball player…those were interesting. For a lazy guy, he sure did a lot.

She was so caught up in her ponderings that she didn't hear the tentative footsteps enter the room. She didn't even notice that someone was standing behind her until he said, "Amy?"

"AHHH!" she shrieked, almost falling backwards. Two hands pushed her back up, and she managed to grab the railing to steady herself. She jumped off and spun around, now standing in front of the Sportafake tube.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Robbie apologized, waving his hands rapidly in front of his face defensively.

"Yeah, you did!" Amy shot back. Robbie actually looked hurt at her response, so she quickly smiled to show that she'd been joking. The expression on his face remained sore, though, so she added, "Just kidding."

He gave a weak smile back, but she could tell that he was doubtful. She sighed and went to sit down on the ramp, leaning her arms on the railing. This position made her almost eye-level with Robbie, which made her feel a bit more confident in what she was about to say. "So…" she began hesitantly. Robbie remained standing, not bothering to move closer, but his blue eyes were watching her. Funny, she'd never really noticed just how pretty his eyes were. But she couldn't allow that to distract her, not now. "You wanna tell me what you've been up to?"

She half expected him to look away from her as he admitted what he'd done, but he didn't. Instead he calmly and quietly explained how he'd hatched his plot when she'd gotten sick, how he'd poisoned Sportacus (he actually said his name, not 'Sportadoofus' or 'Sportakook') with a sugar apple, how he'd lied to the mayor about how to get everyone feeling better. The longer he spoke, the more Amy came to realize that Robbie truly felt remorse for what he'd done. When he took the time to explain about how eating sugar put Sportacus into an unconscious state, she knew he was doing it so that she could recognize the full scope of how horrible he'd been. And yet, the more he told her, in the same quiet monotone he'd begun telling his tale with (which was extremely unsettling in and of itself—she had never heard him use a voice like that in the short amount of time she'd known him), the less mad she found herself feeling. There was still a tiny piece of her that was irritated by his actions, but it was quashed by her growing fondness for the purple-clad man.

Then he told her about how he'd felt so guilty about his villainy that he'd actually helped Sportacus. To most people, it would seem like he was trying to prove that he didn't deserve her anger because hey, he'd righted one of the wrongs. When he said it in his monotone, it was apparent that to him, it was just a part of the story that he owed her. It wasn't anything to brag about; it was factual.

By the time he'd nearly finished explaining, he'd begun to shake. It was barely noticeable at first, then it increased with each sentence. Amy didn't know what to make of it. It was almost like he was getting hyped up on sugar, but he didn't seem to realize that he was shaking.

"…so I ran back here because I wanted to tell you everything. I didn't want you to see what I'd done and think that I didn't want to fix it. I wanted you to know that I'm sorry, and that I'm going to apologize to all of the kids, and that I apologized to Sportacus, but really it was you I needed to talk to, not them, and—"

She cut him off by slipping through the railing and slowly walking the four steps it her took to get to him. His words faded away while he watched her, clearly nervous as to what she was about to do. In his defense, it seemed like he expected her to blow up in his face.

Instead, she deliberately lifted her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. She moved slowly, hoping that it would give him time to move out of the way if he didn't want her to touch him. She could feel him still shaking as she wrapped her arms tighter around him, snuggling into his chest, all the while making sure she was breathing steadily. He'd been shaking and breathing rapidly once she'd started walking towards him, but as they remained there, with her inhaling and exhaling at a calm pace and her arms holding him, she felt his shakes decrease and his breathing slow. She closed her eyes and focused on radiating tranquility, hoping that whatever he was going through, her response was helping him.

Then she felt his arms come up and wrap around her, and she knew she'd done the right thing.

After what felt like quite some time, he spoke. "Aren't you…mad?"

"Mmm-mmm," she replied, shaking her head into his chest. His voice sounded nice from here, vibrating through his chest and into her head.

"Why not?" His voice had finally lost the monotone, and she sensed that he was ready for her to pull back.

"Because," she said, loosening her arms and taking a half-step backwards to give him some space, "you said you were sorry, and you meant it." She felt goosebumps prickle her arms at the sudden lack of Robbie's body heat. She forced herself to ignore it and the inner warmth it gave her. "And I'm leaving in five weeks. I don't have _time_ to be mad at anyone here. I especially don't have time to be mad at my friends who apologize that sincerely." She smiled at him. "Friends forgive each other."

Robbie smiled goofily back at her. "Really?"

She felt like part of her heart was melting at the eagerness on his face. "Yeah." She coughed. "Even when friends go into their friends' lairs uninvited. They most definitely forgive that kind of stuff."

Robbie blinked. "Why _are_ you here, anyway?" He looked around, just now noticing that there was a pile of fruit and veggies on one of his tables.

Amy felt herself blushing. "I…uh…you see, that is a very good question. And the answer to that is that I…was…looking for you?" She mentally kicked herself for making her response sound like a question. "I mean, well, yeah. Pretty much what I said. Looking for you."

"You were looking for me?"

"Yeeeep."

"Why?"

Since when had this become an interrogation? Her face warmed even more. She started fiddling with her hands. "Well, cause you ran out all upset, and I was talking to Steph, and I realized I didn't want to end the day without dealing with this, so I went out and was looking for ya. But I couldn't find you anywhere (now I know you were apparently in an airship above me), so I thought you'd gone home." She ran her hand through her ponytail, still blushing. "You weren't here, and then I heard a noise and saw the machine-thingy, and I may or may not have pushed the yellow button because it just seemed like a good idea at the time, and then there was fruit everywhere and I cleaned it up. And then you came home and scared me." She couldn't help but laugh at her tale. It seemed so simplistic that it was almost hard to believe how upset she'd been when she'd first gotten to his lair. And now that she could fill in his side of the story, it sounded almost like a children's TV show episode.

"Buuuuut the point is friends don't get mad at their friends who sneak into their house. Right?" She managed to wink at him and give him a thumbs up.

Robbie snorted. "I suppose," he said. He turned and walked over to his mini-fridge, where he pulled out a can of soda. He glanced up at Amy. "Want one?"

Amy shrugged. "Sure?"

He threw a can at her, which she managed to catch, although now she was hesitant to open it. Robbie, however, had no such qualms. He popped open the tab and started chugging the sugary drink.

Since everything with Amy had been resolved, the villain was realizing how tired he was. He hadn't slept too well the previous night, and he'd rushed off to Amy's house waaaaaay earlier than he was used to being awake. Then everything with Sportacus and the return of the healthy stuff (he made a sour face at the thought of the fruits and veggies) and running home—he was exhausted! The sugar in the soda helped him to feel a bit better, and knowing that Amy wasn't mad also did wonders on his mental stress levels, but he knew that he needed a nap.

Which is why he abruptly blurted, "I'm going to take a nap now."

Amy started laughing. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked.

Robbie frowned and tried to think of what she might be referring to. Nothing came to mind. "I don't think so," he replied, scratching his head.

Amy finally opened her soda while she spoke. "Well, it sounds like you apologized to Sportacus and me, but didn't you say you wanted to also talk to the rest of the Lazytowners?"

Drat. He'd forgotten about that. "Can't it wait until after my nap? I can take a short one." he whined.

Amy raised her eyebrows at him. "If your short naps are anything like my short naps, then they're either 90-minutes or three hours long. It's not even noon yet. Won't that screw up your sleep schedule?"

He flopped into his orange chair. Regardless of what she said, he was taking a nap, goshdarn it! "I don't have a sleep schedule. Who do you think I am, Sportaflop?"

He leaned back and closed his eyes, adding a loud snore for good measure. He heard her snicker, and he forced himself not to smile at the sound. He had to maintain his image of instantly falling asleep or else she might actually be able to convince him to leave.

"You know, I can't judge you for procrastinating because I do that on all my homework." Her voice sounded closer. "But you know, the sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can go to sleep."

"I'm already asleep," he said loudly, keeping his eyes closed.

"Oh, really?" Something cool touched his nose lightly. He felt his nose twitch involuntarily, and he couldn't resist an inhalation. It smelled like an orange?

His eyes popped open and he jumped out of his chair, stumbling and holding his arms up to protect his face from the fruit. "What are you DOING?" he yelled at the smirking green-haired girl. She held up the orange and took a step towards him. He took a step back.

"What, this?" She took another step towards him, which he followed with another step backwards. Her smirk grew wider, almost evilly. If he hadn't been so focused on getting away from the stupid sportscandy, he might've appreciated the mischievous way she was acting. As it was, he only noticed the bright orange sphere in her hands. "Oh, I thought I should give you an orange back. You know, since you gave me one this morning." She continued to walk forwards, and he continued to take steps back, hands out and ready to knock it out of her hands if she got too close.

"That was supposed to be a gift!" he insisted.

She pouted, an expression that he _did_ notice, albeit briefly. "What, I can't return the favor?" Her eyes, still full of mischief, grew wider, almost puppyish.

"No thank you!" He nearly stumbled over his feet as she advanced. "I don't want it!"

"You don't? But I thought we were friiiieeends." She suddenly rushed forwards.

Robbie, cowardly as ever, spun around and ran. He got to the ladder that led to the surface and started climbing as quickly as he could manage without falling. All the while, Amy continued to follow him closely, calling, "Rooooooobbie! It's just an ooooorange!"

If this is what having friends was like, he might need to rethink the whole thing. He leapt out of the hatch, only stopping once he reached the grass, and bent over to catch his breath. When he finally felt like he was getting enough air again, he spun on his heels to confront Amy. She was leaning nonchalantly against the hatch, peeling the orange, still smirking. She winked at him, which made him lean back as if she was going to throw the orange at him.

"Well, looks like you're already outside now. Might as well find everyone." She tossed the peel aside and pulled apart the orange.

Robbie gaped at her. "You…you… _tricked_ me!" he stammered, appalled.

She winked again. What did all those winks _mean_? "Yep," she replied, popping the 'p'. She jumped off the rise and into the grass next to him, still pulling the orange into little pieces. She offered him a slice, which he cringed at, and shook her head, amused. "Come on." She nudged him with her shoulder, propelling him forward. Reluctantly, Robbie started walking.

"I really don't like you right now," he muttered to her.

She full-out laughed at his declaration, perhaps sensing that it was only half as hostile as he intended. "You know, surprisingly, I'm okay with that."

He huffed. "Whatever, Green…ie."

"Greenie? That's the best you could come up with?" She tossed her head, green hair shimmering in the sunlight, which normally he hated (sunlight, not hair), but her hair looked fairly nice in its ponytail and there he was, getting weirdly distracted by her looks yet again. "That's like me calling you…Tall-ie. Tallie. Or Purply? Nah, that sounds weird."

He let her ramble on as they walked, playing with various nicknames. It was bewildering to him how comfortable he was walking with her, letting her try out different things to call him. No one else in town would bother to give him a nickname. They always just called him 'Robbie' or 'Robbie Rotten', usually with an exclamation point behind it.

"What did you say?" he asked, interrupting her.

Amy had finished her orange, and they'd almost reached town. "Uhm…I said 'Robb'?" she replied hesitantly.

"I like that one."

Amy was baffled at his statement. "What? No, that's way too easy! Anyone could call you that!" She ran to be slightly ahead of him. "That one doesn't count."

"Whatever, Greenie." But he was smirking as he teased her. She rolled her eyes.

"You know what? Fine. _Robb._ Oooooorrrr…" He recognized that tone. That was the tone that meant he wouldn't like what she was about to say. "Chin Boy."

Yep. He hated when he was right. "What?! Ch—chin boy?" he spluttered in disdain. "Wha—why? What—my chin isn't _that_ big! I don't—what?"

Amy started laughing uproariously. "Yep, that's the one." She jogged ahead, where a yellow brick wall indicating the town limits was sitting. "Come along, Chin Boy!"

Still spluttering, Robbie had no choice but to follow the guffawing green girl.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This is a fairly short chapter compared to the last one. I'm probably going to go back and put half of chapter 9 with this at some point to make it flow better, but for now, I'm too lazy. Robbie is a bad influence on me. Also, for some reason, writing Pixel is hard, so I hope he's in character here. I need to rewatch more episodes with him.**

 **To anayu123: It's so funny because when I started this fic waaaaay back a year or two ago, I was all about the Robbie/OC ship. And now, with the resurgence of Lazytown in my life, I have become a Sportarobbie fan. I have no idea how it happened, haha, but I absolutely love Amy and Robbie together. I'm glad you're enjoying it, too!**

 **To girly1215: Obviously spending all my time on tumblr searching for Lazytown stuff is showing in my writing, haha. I genuinely didn't even realize I had that reference to "We Are Number One" in the last chapter until you pointed it out! And then I laughed because the meme has taken over my life. Feel free to keep screeching whenever I drop a reference in, haha!**

Stephanie finished brushing her teeth and made her way towards the front door.

"Oh, dear, Stephanie. Where are you going?" Uncle Milford asked. He was currently gathering food items together, but based on the amount of food, it was obvious he planned on going to Bessie's. Or perhaps she had recruited his assistance at yet another thing. "Aren't you sick? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Stephanie smiled brightly at him. "I'm feeling much better now, Uncle." Thanks to the orange Amy had shared, she felt almost as good as new. She reached the front door and pulled it open. "I'm going to go see if anyone else is feeling better. Be back later!"

"But I thought the doctor said you were supposed to stay in bed?"

Stephanie ignored him and exited the house. By now, Amy had probably found Robbie—at least, so the pink girl hoped. Hopefully, the two could resolve whatever was going on between them, and everyone could get back to having a good summer in Lazytown.

A weird sound came from her left. She glanced over and saw a cloud of— _was that sportscandy?—_ rushing towards her. With a gasp, she dove to the ground, covering her head. The sportscandy whooshed overhead, bringing with it the wonderful smell of fresh fruit. It only took a few seconds for the cloud to continue on, and Stephanie brushed herself off as she got to her feet. "What just happened?" she wondered. Of course, she received no answer, so with a shrug, she followed where the sportscandy had gone, picking up the occasional bits that had fallen out of the cloud and munching on them.

She made her way to the park and found the pile of fruit and vegetables sitting on the ground neatly in front of the basketball goal. "Wow, look at all of it!" she exclaimed. "Where did it come from, I wonder?"

The familiar sounds of Sportacus flipping through the air caught her attention. She turned, and upon spotting the blue hero, waved. "Hi, Sportacus!"

The hero landed in his traditional pose, a big smile on his face. "Hello, Stephanie!"

She ran to him. "Look at all the fruit!" She pointed at it, although how could he miss it?

Sportacus laughed. "I know."

"Where did it come from? Do you know?"

"Yes, I do!" Sportacus crouched down to her level. "You see, Robbie stole all the fruit, but then Amy returned it. At least, I think that's what happened." Sportacus frowned as he spoke, but shook it off.

"Wait. What?" Stephanie couldn't believe it. Robbie had stolen all the healthy food in Lazytown? Okay, that part she actually could believe. But then what about the part about Amy returning it? How? Did she convince the villain to do it, or did she do it by herself? And did that mean that Amy and Robbie were no longer friends? Would anyone want to be friends with such a rotten guy?

"Stephanie?"

The pink girl blinked as Sportacus waved a hand in front of her face. "Sorry, Sport. I got a little distracted, I guess." She smiled sheepishly.

"That's okay. What's important is that we get all of this back to the people it belongs to." Sportacus jumped up and reached to the sky. "Basket!" he shouted.

A white and blue striped basket fell from the sky (well, probably from his airship, Stephanie knew) and into his outstretched hand. He handed the basket to Stephanie, who eagerly took it.

"I'll take some to Pixel and Trixie," the pink girl volunteered, grabbing fruit from the pile and placing it in her borrowed basket.

Sportacus grinned. "I'll handle Ziggy and Stingy!" he said, jumping to the fruit and gathering some in his hands.

Once they both had enough for their deliveries, the two split up. Stephanie still found herself thinking about Robbie and Amy, although she snapped herself out of it when she reached Pixel's house. Nobody answered when she rang the doorbell, but a camera popped out. She waved at it. "Hi Pixel! It's me, Stephanie!" She held up her full basket. "I brought something for you!"

"Oh, okay," a synthetic (but still obviously Pixel) voice said from the camera. The door slowly opened itself, and she made her way inside to Pixel's room.

"Whoa! Look at all that fruit!" the tech geek exclaimed pleasantly at the sight of the basket. "I tried looking for some to eat yesterday, but I couldn't find any."

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, I was the same way. Apparently there was a problem with Robbie stealing it, but everything is okay now…I think." She offered the basket to Pixel, who jumped out bed to grab a banana. He quickly peeled it and took a bite.

"Wow, I feel much better already!"

Stephanie grinned. "That's good! Do you wanna come with me to take some to Trixie?"

"Yeah, that sounds fun. I've been cooped up inside for too long. Give me a minute to get ready."

Stephanie left the room so that Pixel could get ready for the day. While he did that, she put half of her basket into his fridge, making sure to organize it so that he could find whichever type of sportscandy he wanted easily.

Soon, the two of them were on their way to Trixie's. "Did you say Robbie stole all of this?" the orange-haired kid asked as they walked by the pile of fruit.

"That's what Sportacus said," Stephanie nodded grimly. She grabbed an apple and began to eat it.

"But how?"

"I don't know. All I know is that Sportacus said something about Amy returning it all."

"Amy? Your cousin?"

Stephanie took another bite of her apple. Any remains of her cold were long gone now that she was eating healthy food, and she sensed that Pixel was feeling the same way. It just went to show how important sportscandy was to all of them, and how much it bothered her that Robbie had tried to take it all. Amy kept talking about him like he was a good guy, but didn't this prove that he would always be bad?

"Steph?"

Stephanie shook her head to clear it. She was overthinking this. She smiled at Pixel to reassure him that she was paying attention to him. "Yeah?"

"Did you say Amy was the one who got it all back?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

"Wow. Do you think she convinced him, or that she did it herself? She's friends with him, right?"

"I don't know. I think so?"

"What's up, Pinkie?" a voice said from a nearby bush.

Both Stephanie and Pixel jumped at the sudden comment. Trixie rose up from behind the bush, snickering. "You two were so scared!" the prankster chortled, which devolved into a coughing fit.

"Are you okay, Trixie?" Pixel asked, concerned.

Trixie finally stopped coughing. "Yeah," she replied in a raspy voice.

Stephanie raised an eyebrow at her best friend. "You don't sound like you're okay."

Trixie waved them off with one hand and coughed into the other. "'m fine," she insisted.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and held up the basket. "Here. Have some sportscandy. It'll make you feel better!"

"I told you, I'm fine." Trixie eyed the basket, then grabbed an apple, choking back coughs. "But I _am_ a little hungry, so I might as well." She bit into it and her coughing subsided. "Okay, maybe I haven't been feeling my best," the prankster admitted.

"None of us have," Stephanie said. "And we didn't have any sportscandy to eat in order to get better until now."

"Why's that?" Trixie asked through a mouthful of apple.

"Two words: Robbie Rotten," Pixel answered angrily.

"Uuugh. It's always him, isn't it?"

It really _was_ always him, wasn't it? Stephanie was getting a headache from all the thinking she was doing. "Come on, guys. Sportacus said he'd get Ziggy and Stingy, and I want to make sure they're okay."

The three of them headed back to where the pile of fruit had been, and Stephanie was relieved to see her other friends standing there, munching on sportscandy and catching up with Sportacus.

"Stephanie!" Ziggy yelled upon spotting them, and rushed to hug the pink girl. Stephanie hugged him back, allowing him to distract her from her thoughts of Robbie and Amy. "You're feeling better too! Sportacus said that Robbie stole all the sportscandy and that's why we've been sick for so long!" He let go of her, and she nodded.

"That's what he told me, too."

"That guy is so…so…rotten!" Ziggy shook his head in anger. "I don't know what your cousin sees in him."

"I was wondering that myself," Pixel added, joining their conversation. "I don't get how she could want to be friends with such a rotten guy."

"Yeah, Pinkie. What's up with that?" Trixie jumped in.

Stephanie was at a loss. "I—I don't know."

"What's going on?" Sportacus asked, having come over as well. Stingy did, too, but he was holding five apples, two bananas, and an orange, presumably having already claimed them as his.

"We're just trying to figure out why Amy keeps trying to be friends with Robbie even though he's a bad guy," Ziggy explained.

Sportacus opened his mouth to say something, but then something seemed to catch his eyes. He nodded his head towards something, and the five kids turned to see what he'd seen.

Amy and Robbie Rotten himself were walking towards them. Well, if you could call it walking. It was more like Amy was pulling the purple villain, who was obviously reluctant to approach the crowd. It was one of the most unusual sights Stephanie had ever seen in Lazytown, and that included the cloud of sportscandy from earlier.

"Hi, guys. Good to see you all up and moving!" Amy beamed at them, coming to a stop a few feet away. She kept a hold on Robbie's hand, Stephanie noticed. She also noticed that Robbie was frantically looking from Amy to the kids to Sportacus and back to Amy. He seemed terrified, and Stephanie actually felt sympathy for him.

"Hello, Amy. And Robbie," Sportacus said, friendly as always. Robbie jumped at his name.

"Hi," he said quickly, then leaned in to whisper something to Amy, who rolled her eyes and whispered a reply. Stephanie was surprised to see the tall man slump forward more so than normal. He seemed almost…resigned?

"Oh my. What's going on?" Uncle Milford and Miss Busybody joined the crowd.

"That's what _I'd_ like to know," Pixel demanded, crossing his arms.

"Yeah!" the other kids agreed, mimicking him.

Stephanie watched Robbie closely. His jitteriness spiked once all the accusatory eyes were on him, but then Amy stepped closer to him and nudged him gently with her shoulder. He looked at her, and she smiled softly, mouthing, 'Go on'. She was still holding his hand.

"I…uh…well…" Robbie looked back at everyone and sighed. "I wanted to say that…I'm sorry…"

Everyone except Sportacus and Amy gasped loudly at the villain's words.

"Did I hear that right?" Pixel asked in awe.

"Did Robbie Rotten just _apologize_?" Stingy marveled, dropping all of his claimed fruit.

Stephanie spared a moment to glance at Sportacus to see his reaction. The blue hero was grinning at Robbie, and she turned back to him once he began to speak again.

"I stole all of the healthy food from Lazytown," Robbie admitted. "It was an accident ("Yeah, right," Trixie scoffed. Stephanie hushed her.), but I still did it. I'm sorry that I did that."

It felt like the whole town was holding its breath after he finished his apology. Amy made eye contact with Stephanie, and the pink girl knew what she had to do. "You're forgiven," she declared. She peeked back at Sportacus, who gave her a thumbs up. "It means a lot that you said you're sorry."

"Yeah!" Ziggy was next to agree, which surprised Stephanie a little bit, but he really was such a friendly kid. And now he was smiling at Robbie, who looked extremely flabbergasted at how easily he was being forgiven.

"Really?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Robbie, you said you were sorry," Sportacus did a flip and landed right in front of the tall man. "That's what truly matters!"

The rest of the kids (as well as her uncle and Miss Busybody) chimed in agreement, and the crowd of people surged forward, essentially trapping Robbie in the center of a group hug. Stephanie almost laughed out loud when she saw him look at Amy in panic, and she did laugh when Amy just wrapped her arms around the villain in response.

She'd gotten close to the two of them in the hug, and she heard Amy mutter something that sounded like, "I'm proud of you, Robbie." Stephanie smiled to herself. The two had resolved whatever had happened earlier, and she knew it meant that Amy was happy again.

When the group hug ended, Robbie let loose a massive sneeze. Fortunately, everyone had stepped away in time to avoid it, but the man himself scrunched up his face and sneezed again.

Amy laughed. "Alright. I can tell where this is headed." She grabbed his hand again and started pulling Robbie away from everyone else. "Uncle Milford? I'm gonna make Robbie some soup at home, okay?"

"Uhh, that's fine," the mayor replied, not that his answer would've mattered too much because it was clear that Amy had made up her mind.

"This is the weirdest day ever," Trixie mumbled as the two began to walk away.

Stephanie was rather inclined to agree.

In fact, the only two people who would disagree with that thought were Sportacus and Amy, who was too focused on getting Robbie to a relaxing environment before he started sneezing again. She could sense that he was getting restless again after being semi-forced to apologize to all of Lazytown for his misdeeds, and all of the stress had probably lowered his immune system enough that he had finally caught the very cold he'd been trying to spread. She shook her head to herself in amusement as he sneezed yet again.

Fortunately, they reached the Meanswell house quickly, and she ushered the poor guy in. "Alright. I'll make you some soup, and then you can go home and nap. Sound like a plan?" she asked, already searching the kitchen for soup.

"I supp—ACHOO! I su—ACHOO! I— _ACHOO!_ " She turned to look at Robbie, who was rubbing his nose. "I guess," he finally managed to say without sneezing. He practically dived onto the couch, where he started coughing. Amy filled up a glass with water, then grabbed another glass and filled it with soda (she was so glad that they still had some). She carried both glasses to Robbie and set them on the little table in front of the couch. She hoped he'd choose to drink the water, but she also realized that having soda there for him would be a decent idea as well. He'd been through enough today; her forcing water on him would be too much.

"Thanks," he muttered in a rasping voice after his coughing fit ended.

"No problem, Chin Boy," she replied, having found a giant can of chicken noodle soup. She searched through the drawers for a can opener and, upon finding one, opened the can and dumped it into a pot. "I meant what I said out there," she added as an afterthought.

"What?"

"That I'm proud of you for admitting what you did. And for apologizing to everyone." She smiled at the memory. "I knew you could do it." She cranked the heat up to try and warm up the soup as fast as possible.

"Thanks…Greenie," she heard him mutter, and her smile grew bigger.

By the time the soup was warmed up, Robbie was fast asleep on the couch. Amy chuckled softly at the sight of the tall man sprawled on the couch and snoring. She quietly grabbed a blanket out of a closet and threw it over him. Then she yawned. She'd had a fairly long day as well, and she could use a nap, too. She glanced at the soup and got an idea. Taking her time so as not to wake Robbie, she searched the cabinets for a thermos, which she poured the soup into and set on the table next to the glass of soda. Hopefully, if he woke up and was hungry, he'd eat the soup, and at least this way it'd stay warm.

With another yawn, Amy tiptoed back to her bedroom, where she promptly fell asleep.

When she woke up a few hours later, Robbie was gone, along with the thermos.

When her uncle and cousin returned for dinnertime, they didn't ask for the reason she couldn't stop smiling, because they all knew exactly why.

 **If you listen closely, you can probably hear Stephanie singing "Bing Bang" as Amy and Robbie are heading back to the Meanswell house. At least, I can.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Well, here is the latest chapter! I hope you enjoy it!**

 **AssassinPerson: Whoops. Let me go fix that real quick, haha. Thanks for pointing that out!**

 **Brittany: I'm glad you're enjoying this! It's so much fun to write!**

 **lilphangirl: It always makes me smile when people tell me that they're liking the story. :D Thanks!**

It was easy to get back into a routine now that everyone had recovered. Amy woke up at 9, ate her breakfast, and played with the kids until lunchtime. Then she alternated between napping at home or spending the afternoon with Robbie, since he was usually awake by that time. Around 4 she would leave his place to meet up with the kids again—usually a bigger game such as soccer or basketball. She always invited Robbie along, and more often than not, he would grumble about spending his precious naptime out in the sun but ultimately wind up joining her. He never played with them, though the other kids often asked him to. He seemed content to just plop himself down on a bench and watch. Occasionally he would give ice cream to the hot children (he always wore a mustache when he did that, which Amy thought was hilarious and adorable), so as much as he complained about them playing foolish games, everyone knew he didn't truly mean it.

A week passed like this, which left roughly a month before Amy would be leaving Lazytown. She was well aware of this, so she had gone to Robbie's a little bit earlier than normal to try and spend more time with him. She was currently sitting in Robbie's orange chair, reading a book, while Robbie was finagling with his costume-machine-thingy. Apparently it had stopped working for no reason prior to her arrival, and the semi-villain was determined to fix it. In fact, she wasn't even sure he remembered that she was there—he was so focused on it.

She tried to pay attention to her book, but occasionally (amidst sounds of metallic-y bangs and whirs) she would hear Robbie muttering, and she couldn't help but listen. Half of the time it was something along the lines of, "What if I connect the helmic regulator?" (along with other weird terms that she was 90% sure were made up), and the other half of the time, she was almost positive he was speaking another language.

"Ow!" she heard him exclaim, along with a few words in the potentially different language. She snorted before dog-earing her page and getting up to investigate. He was nowhere to be seen, which meant he was probably behind the costume tubes.

She grabbed the railing and pulled herself up. "Anything I can do to help?" she asked, sauntering over to the main console and peering over it.

There was an echo-y "AHHHHH!" as Robbie shrieked. She heard a thud, an "OW! I meant to do that!", and then he wriggled himself out from underneath a costume tube. His eyes widened comically when he saw Amy standing above him. "When did you get here?!"

"I've been here for a while, Chin Boy, remember?" Amy laughed as she gave him a once-over. He was holding a large blue wrench in one hand, and his face had a few splotches of grease on it (including one very prominent spot on his nose that made her snicker). However, the most obvious sign that he'd been working for a while was his hair. It wasn't gelled back as usual—it was wild and messy and _wow,_ did it make him look cute. Not that he wasn't normally cute. But this was just…

"You alright, Greenie?" Robbie asked, distracting her from his hair. "You're staring. Do I have something on my face?" The tall man immediately started swiping at his face with his free hand, which only smeared the grease further.

She couldn't help it; she laughed again, hoping that he didn't notice the faint blush that was probably creeping on her cheeks. "Well, you do have a bit of grease on ya. But I wouldn't worry about it." She leaned against the console to better see him. "Whatcha doing?"

Robbie glared at what she presumed was the interior of his costume-changer. "It's not working," he complained, crossing his arms grumpily. "I can't figure out what's wrong."

"Can I help?"

Robbie scoffed, prompting an eyebrow raise from Amy. "Are you a mechanic?"

"Are you?" she shot back.

He ignored her. "Have you ever invented something never-seen-before by anyone?"

Her eyebrow lifted further. He'd created this thing? "Uh…no?"

Robbie gestured to the costume tubes with the wrench. "Do you even have a degree in machinery and inventions?"

"…no, but I'm guessing you don't, either." She leaned further onto the console, taking care to avoid the lever, in an attempt to view the interior of the giant machine. It didn't work.

"I do too! Well, okay, maybe not a degree in machinery and inventions, but I know more than you do. And that's why _I_ will be the one fixing it." He crouched down to prepare to crawl back under while Amy watched, shaking her head at his antics. "Although…" she heard him mutter before jumping himself back up, "I suppose you _might_ be able to help. Stay there!" He returned to the interior of his machine.

Amy stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to tell her what to do. She felt a little annoyed at his chastisement of her machine-fixing abilities (although he wasn't wrong, she had to admit). "Sure, whatever, Chin Boy," she muttered, tapping her feet impatiently.

"Okay. When I say go, pull the lever!" Robbie's voice called, slightly muffled and a little echo-y. There were a few thumps and clicking noises from within the machine, and then Robbie yelled, "GO!"

Amy grabbed the lever and yanked it down. She suddenly began to spin around and around and around and then when she stopped, she was no longer in her normal green clothes. Instead, she was in a purple-and-white fairy costume, combined with what looked like pieces of a court jester outfit and a wand that had a birthday present on it, for some odd reason. There was a weird jester hat on her head, purple gloves on her hands, and was she suddenly wearing tights? Or leggings of some sort? She tried to smooth down the poofy white skirt, but it didn't work at all, to her annoyance.

Robbie emerged from behind the machine. "Did it work?" he asked hopefully.

Amy continued to study what she was now wearing. "Uhm…depends on what you mean by that."

He took one look at her and frowned. "You should be in the baseball outfit, not the birthday fairy!"

"Is that what this is?" Amy gestured to the ensemble. "Why do you have a…birthday fairy costume?"

"For birthday parties," came the matter-of-fact explanation (as if that was an acceptable answer) before he disappeared into the machine again. She heard a few more clangs, a sharp whistle, another loud THUD!, and then, "Maybe if I switch the red wire with the blue one…ALRIGHT! PULL IT!"

Amy reached for the lever once more. This time, when she'd finished spinning, she was in a pink jacket with a white fur trim on the neckline, shimmery pink pants, and a matching pink fedora. In her left hand was a pink cane. Upon closer examination, she saw that there were rhinestones sewn into the jacket, and she was wearing a pair of Robbie's shoes. "You know what? I'm not sure I even want to know what this is for," she said, twisting around to see how everything looked in the back. The jacket was definitely a bit large on her. "Dude, these shoulders are intense." She waved the cane around and did an impromptu can-can. "Uh, Robbie?" she called, ending her can-can and stroking the furry trim. It was softer than she expected it to be.

"Did it work now?" he asked, popping back up. She struck a pose, one foot crossed behind the other and arms outstretched. He gasped as he saw what she was wearing. "How did that get here? It wasn't even an option!" he exclaimed, head rapidly going from Amy to the costume tubes and back.

"Do I want to know?" Amy asked, twirling the cane in her hand. She stopped for a moment to push the fedora up further. "Because I really don't know if I want to know or not." She spun around dramatically. "Also, it's not very fitting."

She looked at Robbie, who was staring at her in astonishment. "What?"

He shook his head. "I-I just—I thought I got rid of that," he stuttered, waving the wrench around.

Amy reached up and took off the fedora, which she threw to him. He flinched as it hit his chest and fell to the floor, but then he picked it up and did a little flair as he placed it on his head. With a shudder and a hissed stream of words she couldn't fully make out, he threw the hat back at her and vanished back behind the machine, leaving her standing alone, hatless and still in the obnoxious suit. She picked up the hat and gently brushed it off before replacing it on her head with the same little flair Robbie had done.

"NOW!" she heard him shout after a particularly loud CLANG! rang out from underneath her feet. She jumped at the sudden sound, but turned to the lever.

"Third time's the charm, right?" She shrugged, gave the furry trim a final pat, and pulled the lever. Man, was she getting dizzy from all this spinning. When she came to a stop, she glanced down to see if she was finally in the baseball uniform.

Alas, she was not. Instead, she was in... "Oh, no." She twisted around to examine her new outfit. "Oh, no, no, no, no. Nooooooo." The pink suit had been bad, but this was worse. Much worse.

She was in Robbie's outfit. His normal, everyday outfit.

"Did it work yet?" Robbie shouted.

"No! Don't even bother looking! Just stay there and try something else!" She looked around to see if there was a place she could hide, but of course, there was nowhere to run.

"Don't be ridiculous," she heard the villain say as he began to come out. If he saw her wearing _his_ clothes…that would just make everything so _awkward_!

She spun around and saw the orange chair. "Better than nothing," she muttered before running to the railing. Without thinking about her lack of gymnastic abilities, she grabbed ahold of the railing and propelled herself over it. Miraculously, she made it over without getting her foot caught, and she landed on the floor in a catlike crouch.

"Amy?" she heard Robbie ask. She stayed in her crouch for a moment, then ran across the floor to the chair, which she promptly leaped into, pulling her legs up to fully hide herself. "Amy?"

She could feel her face heating up. "Well, this is embarrassing," she whispered to herself. Having a crush was fine and dandy, and spending time with said crush was a normal thing to do, but to be wearing said crush's clothes was just…weird! She hid her face in her legs, inhaling deeply in an attempt to calm her racing heart. His clothes even smelled like him—all nice and vanilla-y and—

"Amy? What are you doing?"

She swore her heart skipped a beat or two when she heard Robbie's voice coming from right next to her. Slowly, she lifted her head. Indeed, he was standing next to the chair, still holding the wrench, a concerned expression on his face. She tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace. "Heeeeeey, Robbie. 'Sup?"

"You're in my chair."

She laughed hesitantly. "Yes. Yes I am. This is true. I am in your chair." She kept her legs pulled up in an attempt to conceal her clothes. "I am sitting here in your chair. With no intention of getting up."

Robbie scratched his head, which only messed up his hair further. "Are you okay? You look flushed."

Yes, and him commenting on it was not the way to make it stop. In fact, she was sure her face looked like a tomato right about now. Someone could probably cook a burger on her cheeks.

"Well? Did it work?" Robbie asked, crossing his arms.

Oh, shoot. She was going to have to get up and show him, wasn't she?

She sighed. "You wanted the baseball outfit, right?"

"Yes."

Reluctantly, Amy straightened her legs and rose from the chair. "Then I'm gonna say no." She held out her arms to reveal what she was wearing.

Robbie gasped. Seeing Amy in the Richy Rich disguise had caught him off guard enough, but this was something completely different. She was wearing _his_ outfit! From the navy turtleneck to the striped vest and pants to the black and white shoes—she was wearing it all! And she actually _looked good_ in it! (Well, okay, her hair didn't really match, but that was unimportant.)

"Erm…" He was at a loss for words.

Amy crossed her arms. "Well…this is awkward."

He tried to think of something to say, anything, anything at all, but nothing came to mind. He opened and closed his mouth a few times in an attempt to find words, but that didn't help, either. Nor could he stop staring at her.

"Okay, Robbie, you're getting a little weird here. Don't forget to breathe."

Ahh, yes, breathing! That must be why his brain wasn't working. Was he breathing? He inhaled deeply just to make sure.

Amy pointed at the costume-changer console. "I'm just gonna go back there and…yeah." She spun around on her heels—although technically, weren't they his heels if they were his shoes?—before walking back up the ramp, where she reached for the lever. He continued to stare after her for a few seconds before he realized that his machine was still broken.

"Wait!" he yelled, surging forward to reach her before she could pull it down. "It's not fixed yet!"

Klutz as he was, he somehow managed to trip as he raced towards her. As he fell, he accidentally let go of the wrench, which spun through the air towards Amy. "Look out!"

He almost couldn't watch as Amy turned to see the wrench coming towards her, but he couldn't look away, either.

She ducked right in time, and the wrench smacked into the console, which started beeping rapidly. Robbie pulled himself up and ran to help Amy up. "Are you okay?" he asked, worried.

Amy grinned at him, making his stomach do flip-flops, which also made him feel slightly nauseous. "Yeah. Thanks for warning me. Otherwise, that totally would've hit me in the head." She frowned. "And that would've hurt a lot."

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to throw it at you. It was an accident!" For someone who couldn't say anything a minute ago, now he couldn't seem to stop talking.

Amy put her hand on his arm. "Robbie, it's okay. I know it was an accident." She glanced at the console, which had finally stopped beeping. "Think that fixed it?" she wondered aloud, reaching for the lever.

Well, either it fixed it or it made it worse. Robbie's hand shot out, knocking her hand away and grabbing it before she could. "Maybe I should do it this time," he said hurriedly. "Wouldn't want you to get hurt or somethin'."

Amy scoffed. "Yeah, because this can totally hurt people," she commented sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at her and shooed her away with his other hand. Then he pulled the lever. The spinning didn't bother him at all; he was used to it by now, and he could tell by how everything felt that it was working properly again.

Sure enough, when he looked down to see what he was wearing, he was in the baseball uniform. "Haha, it works! I fixed it!" he declared triumphantly as he jumped up and down.

"You did it!" Amy cheered, jumping as well. He grabbed her arms and started dancing happily, humming as he spun her around.

"I fixed it! I fixed it!" he repeated, almost singing the words as they continued to dance.

Amy giggled, and the sound just made him even happier. He twirled her before releasing one hand so they could both separate and pose, then she spun around back into him as their impromptu dance ended. They both grinned at each other for a few seconds, which made the flip-flopping in his stomach triple in intensity, but he didn't feel nauseous anymore. Instead, he felt sure and content and like he didn't want to let go of the green girl ever again.

Which, of course, is why he let go of her and took a step back. Where the heck had _those_ thoughts come from? Yeah, he liked spending time with Amy, but this was different. They were friends, so then why did he feel like he wanted more? Did he actually want more? What did that even mean, _more_? More than friends? Was that possible?

And…would Amy be okay with that?

All these thoughts were giving him a headache. He needed to stop thinking them. He glanced at Amy, who was staring off into space. What if she _was_ willing to be more, whatever that meant?

No, she was leaving soon. She probably didn't have time for anything like that.

"Play with us," she suddenly said, snapping out of her reverie and looking at him.

Robbie flinched. "What?"

She shrugged. "We're playing baseball this afternoon. You're already wearing the right clothes for it." She smiled and winked at him. "You might as well."

He held up a finger. "How about…no?" He sneered as she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, come on, Chin Boy. It'll be fuuuun." A mischievous glint appeared in her brown eyes, which worried him. "Please? For me?"

"No!" he snapped.

"Pleeeease?"

"No!"

"Pretty please with chocolate ice cream and a cherry on top?"

He could feel his resolve wavering. "No."

She took a step towards him, smirking. He stepped backwards, trying to keep away from her. "What's wrong, Chin Boy? You're not _scared_ of me, are ya?"

"No!" He crossed his arms moodily. He was a little bit worried about her and what she was up to, but afraid? That was going too far! Well, sort of. Okay, maybe he was a little, teeny-tiny bit afraid of whatever scheme she had in mind. But she wasn't going to know that!

"How about this: you play baseball with us as a favor to me, and I'll do a favor for you."

Now, _this_ was interesting. He was intrigued, and she probably knew it. "Oh, really?"

"Yep. Anything you want."

"Anything?"

She laughed. "Yes, doofus. Anything."

Anything? He liked the sound of that. But what did he want? He pondered this for a minute. Then it came to him. "Alright. My favor that I choose is this: I want you to convince everyone in Lazytown to be quiet and calm for one whole day."

He expected her to shake her head and say that was impossible. He knew from personal experience that it was the most difficult task to do aside from trying to get rid of the overactive jumping bean. And once she determined his request to be impossible, he would be off the hook for playing baseball. It was genius!

He didn't expect her to slowly nod her head and say, "I can do that."

"What?" he shrieked. "You're not supposed to say that!"

She leaned against the console. "What? Did you think I'd say something like, 'That's impossible!' and you'd be off the hook for playing?"

"Something like that," Robbie grumbled.

She snorted. "Well, I hate to break it to ya, but I don't give up that easily. Plus, I think I have an idea." She grabbed his arm and began to pull him towards the exit. "Come on, Chin Boy. We got a game to catch!"

Well, that plan had backfired rather epically.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I had the hardest time with this chapter for some reason. I rewrote chunks of it like...three or four times, and then I kept adding to it and adding and then I realized I just needed to break it up into two chapters, so that's what I'm gonna do. Which means that the next chapter is going to be all sorts of fluff that has almost nothing to do with plot except being cute. Heads up on that, haha.**

 **anayu123: I freakin' love the plays. I like to have them playing in the background while I write! Pffft, nah, you're not addicted. ;) Also, I love the baseball outfit so much. I don't think I'll ever get over how attractive Robbie looks in it.**

 **girly1215: Seriously, who doesn't love Glanni? Or fun little references to the other plays? :D**

 **lilphangirl: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I hope you continue to like it!**

 **Brittany: Awww, thanks for saying that. You're so sweet!**

 **RobbieFan: 1) The reason I gave Amy green hair is because waaaaay back in middle school, my best friend wrote a goofy little Lazytown fanfiction where she and I magically got to Lazytown and just played all day with the other kids. She had lemon-yellow hair, and my hair was green and in braids. I liked the idea of green braids so much that I decided Amy would have them. Plus, if Stephanie can have bright pink hair, no one's gonna think it's weird that Amy has green hair, haha. 2) It's more of an emerald green color! I've posted a link on my bio to a picture that's what I imagine her hair color to be! Thanks for asking, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story!**

 **And to everyone else, I'm glad you're having fun reading this! Reading your reviews always brighten my day! :)**

 **Now, onward to the story!**

There were pros and cons to waking up early. The main pro was that now Amy had plenty of time to get everything ready for tonight. The cons were that she was wide awake at 8:17 in the morning and hadn't slept well the night before, and that while yes, she had plenty of time to get stuff done, there was just so much to do.

She rolled over, smushing her face into her pillow. "I hate mornings," she mumbled. With a grunt, she forced herself to sit up and get ready for the long day ahead of her.

"Amy?" Stephanie asked upon spotting the yawning green girl emerge from her room. "What are you doing up? You aren't usually up this early."

Amy held up a hand to silence her cousin. If she was going to survive today, she was going to need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. Would Sportacus approve? Probably not, but whatever. It wasn't like she needed his approval. Robbie, on the other hand, would definitely drink coffee with her. She could totally picture him dumping vats of creamer and sugar into his coffee, which, funnily enough, was exactly how she drank hers. She smiled at this thought as she turned on the coffeemaker.

"What's so funny?" she heard Stephanie ask.

Amy ignored her, opening a cabinet to get out a huge coffee mug and retrieving the creamer from the fridge. She also checked the pantry for some hot cocoa mix, which she found in the very back. After the coffee had brewed, she mixed everything together into her own version of a mocha. Only once she had taken a long sip of the hot liquid (ehhhh, taste buds grow back eventually), she finally faced her curious cousin. "Okay. Now you may speak."

She watched in amusement as Stephanie gave her a funny look, then shrugged it off. "Why are you up early?" the pink-haired girl asked.

Amy took another long sip of her coffee. "I got a lot to do today, and I didn't sleep too well last night, so here I am now." She lifted her coffee mug in a false toast. "Thank goodness for coffee."

"What all do you have to do today?"

Amy winked at her cousin. "You'll have to find out when I tell everyone else. Actually, could you do me a favor and have everyone meet me at the mayor's podium around 9ish? I'm gonna need some help pulling this off."

She could see Stephanie's curiosity growing, but to her credit, the younger girl didn't ask any more questions. She simply chirped, "Okay!" and finished eating her breakfast.

Amy leaned against the counter, sipping the rest of her coffee and mulling. After she'd changed back into her normal clothes (no way was she going out in public in Robbie's clothes), she'd made good on her deal with Robbie and dragged him to the game, which had been fantastic. She'd actually convinced Robbie to bat twice, and the rest of the time, she let him simply stand in the outfield, laughing when the occasional baseball came towards him and he ducked out of the way (rather than make any attempt to catch it). But he was participating, and that was all that mattered. He even seemed to be enjoying himself—she'd caught him smiling when he didn't think anyone was watching.

Now, she had to keep her end of the deal, and she knew exactly how she was going to do it: movie night.

She'd actually been thinking about throwing a movie party for a few days now, and this was perfect for adhering to Robbie's request. If the kids stayed up late tonight watching a movie, then they'd be more tired tomorrow, and therefore more willing to have a day of chilling and quietness. It was a foolproof scheme. Plus, any excuse to watch her favorite movie, right?

The clock struck 9. She'd been lost in her thoughts for much longer than she'd expected. With a sigh, she finished her coffee and grabbed a poptart. Stephanie was gone, probably off finding her friends and getting them together. Amy wasn't quite sure how she'd missed her cousin's leaving, but oh well. With a loud yawn, she poured the rest of the coffee in the coffeepot into a thermos and made a mocha to-go. It was time to tell everyone her plans for the evening and hope they liked the idea enough to help.

By the time she reached the mayor's podium, everyone in Lazytown was gathered around it, talking amongst themselves. Everyone, that was, except Robbie, but that didn't surprise her. It was much too early for him (or her, she noted bitterly) to be awake.

"Hey, Amy's here!" Ziggy yelled energetically, bringing everyone's attention to her. She waved her hand with the poptart in it and made her way onto the stage.

"Hey, guys," she said, looking down at them all.

They all waved back. "What's going on, Amy?" Stephanie asked. "I told everyone you needed our help with something."

"Yeah! What do you need help with?" Ziggy echoed, waving his lollipop around.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe tonight we could have a movie night," she began, then stopped to take a sip of coffee and yawn. "Sorry. Not used to being up and about this early." Everybody laughed, and she continued with a grin. "So, what was I saying? Oh, right. Movie night. I've been wanting to do this for a while now, and tonight the weather is supposed to be super nice, so I was thinking we could set up a big screen and a projector and watch a movie outside. We could have snacks and drinks, and we could even just all camp outside in the park once the movie's over." She saw the kids' eyes light up at her idea, and she knew she had them hooked. "Like, just bring your sleeping backs with you, and you can lay down, enjoy the movie, and just go right to sleep. It'll be fun!" She took another long sip of coffee.

"That's a great idea!" Ziggy exclaimed, ever the excitable one. "I could bring candy!"

"I think I have a screen that's big enough somewhere in my house. I can set it up here in the park," Pixel offered. Amy pointed at him happily.

"Yes! And I'm sure if you need help, someone can help ya!" There were shouts of agreement from the rest of the kids.

She glanced at her pink cousin, who immediately raised her hand. "I could bake cupcakes," she volunteered. "And Stingy and Trixie can help with that."

Amy nodded. "Uncle Milford," she called, getting the older man's attention. "Could you maybe have a barbecue before we start the movie? That way we'll have a decent dinner, and we'll still have plenty of snacks for during the movie."

"Oh, yes, I could do that!"

"Excellent. I'm thinking we could start the movie around 6:30, 7ish, so we could eat around 5:30."

"But what about going to bed early enough to get enough sleep?" Ziggy suddenly asked, turning to Sportacus in concern.

Amy made eye contact with the blue superhero. He couldn't make the rules for everybody regarding whether they could stay up late or not, but he had the respect of everyone in town, and they would listen to what he said. She hoped that he would be okay with the idea.

Sportacus met her gaze easily and winked at her, making her realize she shouldn't have worried. "It's okay to stay up late every now and then," he said with a smile. "I think this sounds like a great idea! We just might be a little tired tomorrow."

Somehow, she highly doubted that he would be too tired, but she lifted her coffee to him. "That's what coffee's for, right?"

The superhero raised his eyebrows at her, obviously implying that he disagreed with her statement. Which was why she made sure to chug the rest of her coffee, keeping firm eye contact with him. He shook his head slightly, although he remained smiling and had a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes. She set down the empty thermos and raised her eyebrow back at him in a silent challenge. The two of them laughed, and she jumped off the podium to better talk to everyone.

They all agreed to start getting ready right away, and as the rest of the townsfolk split up for their tasks, Amy waved Sportacus over before he could leave. He immediately did a frontflip and spin, landing directly in front of her (which earned an eyeroll from the green girl). "What's going on, Amy?" he asked.

"Okay, sorry, but can you walk anywhere? I'm legitimately wondering," she couldn't help but ask. He simply laughed in response, so she moved on to what she really needed to talk to him about. "Okay, I'm assuming that you're gonna bring fruit and water for everyone tonight, right?"

"Yes! How did you know?" She was amused to see that he seemed genuinely confused as to how she'd guessed his plan.

"Lucky guess," she deadpanned. "Anyways, do you think you could bring some avocados?"

The blue-clad hero nodded. "Of course! But why?"

Well, apparently avocados were not a popular fruit in Lazytown. Although to be honest, that didn't surprise her. "To make avocado milkshakes, duh. Have you never had one?"

"I have not. But it sounds delicious!"

He must be the most enthusiastic person in the world, she decided. She could almost hear the exclamation points at the end of everything he said. But that wasn't important right now. It was time for the next part of her request, which was the more challenging part. "Cool beans. Now, for the more important thing: I made a deal with Robbie, okay?"

Sportacus didn't frown, not exactly, but his entire demeanor shifted slightly. "A deal? With Robbie?" he asked, almost _tensely_ , she noted.

"Yeeeah. Remember how he actually played baseball with us yesterday?" Sportacus nodded. Amy felt her cheeks warm as she continued. "I was the one who convinced him to do that, but I had to make a deal with him. And the deal was that in exchange for him playing, I had to convince everyone in Lazytown to take it easy for a day."

"Ahhhh," Sportacus nodded. "I see." The momentary tenseness she'd noticed vanished.

Amy couldn't help but call him out on it. "What, did you think I was gonna tell you that you had to leave town forever or something?" She took a bite of her poptart as he shrugged and replied.

"That's usually what happens when it comes to deals with Robbie."

"Oh. Right." She'd forgotten about that. "The point is, he just wants one day where everyone is chill and quiet. That's why I want to have a movie night, so that everyone'll be tired tomorrow and will be more likely to just relax. But you're the energetic one, and everyone listens to you, so I was hoping that you could maybe get everyone to take it easy tomorrow."

He didn't answer for a minute, thinking about what she was asking of him. It was probably one of the most difficult things anyone had ever asked of him—he loved to move and encourage others to move as well. And here he was, being asked to encourage others to be still. It was almost impossible for him to stop moving, although at least he had an airship he could be active in without bothering everyone.

He studied the patient girl in front of him. Her plan was a good one, he had to agree. It was much less malicious than any of Robbie's, although it had a similar end goal. He wondered if she had always been one to plot, or if maybe spending so much time with the mischievous villain was rubbing off on her. Whether that was the case or not, she needed an answer from him.

"I'll see what I can do," the slightly-above-average hero finally said.

Her entire face lit up at his words. "Thanks so much, Sportacus! Robbie will be so happy, although between you and me, I'm pretty sure the whole 'hating being active' thing is an act because I've heard about some of his schemes and he's pretty active during them, so…" She blushed as she realized that she was essentially rambling to Sportacus about the guy she had a crush on, which made him chuckle.

"You know, Amy," he half-whispered to her, "I think I agree with you a little." He winked, prompting a soft snort from the green girl.

"He just wants to be included, you know? Even if he doesn't play, he likes to be invited, and yeah, he'll probably be all grumpy about the 'audacity of those kids, asking _me_ to _play'_ ," she did her best impression of his voice, which made the hero laugh again, "but he's just a big softy who secretly appreciates being included." She smiled to herself, lost in thoughts of Robbie. She probably didn't realize that Sportacus was watching her intently, mentally noting the friendly way she spoke about the villain. Had he not been paying such close attention to her, he wouldn't have noticed the way her shoulders suddenly slumped and her smile faded. For someone who had been so happy and enthusiastic a few minutes ago, the abrupt mood change concerned him.

"Amy, are you okay?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at him and smiled, although he could tell it was forced. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Just because he didn't believe her didn't mean he needed to confront her right this minute. Sportacus instead placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know that if you ever need to talk, I'm always here to listen."

Her eyes flicked to his hand briefly before returning to his face. "Thanks, Sport." With a long sigh, she tilted her head towards the podium. "Well, I should check on everyone and make sure it's all going well. Plus I gotta let Robbie know what's going on, so…"

Sportacus smiled and removed his hand. "That sounds like a plan!" he exclaimed.

She rolled her eyes at him. "You know, sometimes you remind me of a dog with all your enthusiasm. Not that that's a bad thing, but I felt like I should tell you." She turned and began to walk away from him.

Sportacus threw his head back and laughed at her bluntness, causing her to look towards him and grin. "Thank you for telling me!" With that, he raised one hand to the air. "Ladder!" he shouted. The white ladder fell from his airship. He immediately jumped onto it and began to climb it. "I'll see you tonight, Amy!" he called. She waved before resuming her way.

He continued to laugh at her words all the way up to his airship.

Amy yawned. There were only a couple of hours to go until the pre-movie barbecue began, and she was just now getting a chance to rest in her room. Pixel had set up the giant screen in the park, Stingy had provided the movie that she'd wanted (although it had been a bit of a battle to get him to give it to her), and the rest of the kids had all baked various treats over the course of the day. She'd wandered around, making sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to and pitching in when she could. In addition to helping everyone with their tasks, she'd also picked up the area of the park where they'd be spending their night (so…many…toys…). She'd had a short break when she'd eaten a sandwich for lunch, but then Pixel had needed help testing the speakers, so she'd had to scarf the meal down and deal with the audio issues.

"Okay. I think I've done everything that I needed to do," she said, leaning against the headrest. She closed her eyes and mentally ran through the list of preparations. Everything seemed good to go—the movie area was ready, the food would be ready soon, everyone knew what time to be there, and Robbie would get his day of relaxation…

"OH, CRAP, I FORGOT ROBBIE!"

Amy jumped out of her bed and rushed out the door, embarrassed beyond belief at forgetting to tell Robbie what was going on. The poor guy was probably wondering where she was since it was already so late in the afternoon! She ran all the way to the billboard (which just proved how much of a positive impact residing in Lazytown was having on her fitness) and opened the hatch as quickly as she could. "I can't believe I did this!" she chastised herself as she descended into the lair.

"ROBBIE, I am SO SORRY!" she all but yelled as she entered the main room, startling the man awake.

"What? What's happening? I didn't do it!" he exclaimed in confusion, throwing his arms out as if to ward off an attack.

Much like Amy the previous night, Robbie had not slept well. Actually, he hadn't slept at all. After the baseball game, he'd gone home fully intending to go straight to bed, but then he'd gotten hungry and had eaten enough cake to give him a sugar buzz, which he'd turned into two new inventions and modifications on an existing one. Then he'd tried to sleep, but he couldn't stop thinking about Amy in _his_ clothes and the way he'd felt after dancing with her. Every time he'd tried to force the memory out of his head, it would just pop back in, along with the regret of letting her go and a fierce determination to keep a hold of her if such a situation ever arose again, and then, _then_ he'd had something even more terrifying happen: he found himself wondering what it'd be like to kiss her.

And that had done absolutely nothing for his insomnia. He, Robbie Rotten, was not the type of guy who wanted to _kiss_ anyone! So where had _that_ come from?

In distress, he'd eaten even more cake and spent about two hours pacing around the lair, trying to figure everything out. He'd retraced his steps from the previous day in an attempt to isolate his new feelings, reenacting everything as best as he could. However, no matter how hard he mulled or tried to rationalize his feelings away, it all came down to the same conclusion, which was that he truly wanted to kiss her.

Which had resulted in him falling into his chair in mental exhaustion at around the same time the girl in question had woken up that day. The instant his butt hit the orange chair, he'd fallen fast asleep, (thankfully enough) only waking up now that Amy was yelling at him (okay, so she wasn't exactly yelling, but he was tired and disoriented and she was definitely speaking loudly).

"What are you doing here so early?" he demanded.

Amy's face scrunched up in puzzlement. "It's not early?"

"Isn't it? What time is it then?"

She pointed at the clock on his little table, which read 4:13 in the afternoon. Robbie stared at the clock. How had that happened?!

"Have you been asleep all day?" Amy asked, almost sounding…concerned? Was she actually concerned for him?

Robbie scratched his head. Apparently he had been. "I didn't sleep well," he offered by way of explanation. He was surprised to see Amy nod in agreement.

"Saaaame." True to her word, she yawned. "I don't suppose you have coffee?"

Come to think of it, he didn't. He really should invest in it, though. "I have soda," he said, stretching and getting up from the chair to get some. He could use a soda himself.

When he returned to his chair, two cans in hand, Amy was curled up in it, half-asleep. He stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to proceed. She didn't seem to notice him; she just stared at the armrest with a blank expression on her face.

"Greenie?" he asked hesitantly.

She slowly lifted her head to look at him. Her eyes were still slightly glazed, although she seemed to recognize his presence. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Getting stuff ready for tonight and all that jazz." She yawned again and scooted over on the chair, leaving a space between her body and the opposite armrest. He stared at the empty space. Was he supposed to sit there? "'m gonna do it, Robb. I'm gonna get everyone tired and tomorrow will be a chill day, just like you wanted." She tilted her head to rest it against the side of the chair and closed her eyes.

Well, now he was even more confused. What was tonight? Why was she so tired? And why was there a space on the chair?

"You can sit here if you want," she mumbled. "There's room for both of us."

Robbie nearly dropped both sodas at her words. "You…are you sure?"

"Mmm-hmm."

Well, it wouldn't be the first time they'd sat that close to each other (he had a brief flashback to the park incident), but this was on a chair, _his_ chair, which was a whole new situation. He _wanted_ to sit there, but did that mean that he _should_? He began to inch his way over, half-expecting her to change her mind. She didn't, so he slowly sat down next to her. She remained as she was, so he set the soda cans down on the floor.

"Well, this is unexpected…" he muttered under his breath. He had no idea where to go from here, so he just sat there stiffly, feeling the warmth from her body. As usual, she smelled of strawberries, although this time, there was a hint of coffee mixed with it.

"This is fine," he insisted to himself in an attempt to relax. "I am completely fine right now." He peeked at the green girl, who had somehow fallen completely asleep in the time it had taken him to actually sit down. A part of him wondered if he should do something, like wake her up or put his arm around her.

Wait, where had _that_ come from?

"No, I can't do that," he whispered. "Can I?"

But he'd done it before, hadn't he? Granted, he'd been trying to wake her up, and she'd been sick, but it was the same thing, sort of, right? Slowly, gently, he lifted the arm nearest her and tried to wrap it around her without waking her. She shifted and he froze, but she didn't wake up, so he continued, biting his lip in concentration, his hand brushing her dark green hair as it made its way over to her shoulder. He held it there, lightly resting against her shoulder, suddenly doubtful that this was a good idea. Then, with a deep breath and a whispered, "This is ridiculous—just do it!", he set his arm down.

He closed his eyes and held his breath for a minute, certain that she was about to wake up and demand to know what he was doing. She didn't—she continued to breathe evenly. Robbie opened his eyes and allowed himself to relax. This was nice. Almost nicer than the park, actually, because they were in his chair, in his lair, not outdoor in the fresh air.

Amy shifted again, this time moving her head so that it rested on his arm instead of the side of the chair. Robbie's first instinct was to pull away from her, but when he tried, Amy leaned back and rolled her head over. Now she was snuggled firmly against him, her head resting on his chest like he was her own personal pillow, which effectively trapped him in the chair. He glanced around his lair in a slight panic, looking for anything, _anything_ at all that could help him, but alas, there was nothing. He returned his gaze to the sleeping girl and sighed. There was no getting out of this…and he would be outright lying to himself if he said that he wanted to. In fact, hadn't he decided earlier today that he wasn't going to let go of her the next time something like this happened? He drummed his fingers against the armrest, wondering what to do next, before making a decision to just go back to sleep. What else could he do?

Once he'd made the decision, he promptly fell into the best nap he'd ever taken.

About an hour later, Amy felt herself waking up. She felt fantastic, all refreshed and warm and calmed by the chest steadily rising and falling under her head—wait, what? Slowly, she lifted her head, keeping her cheek pressed against the very familiar (and vanilla-scented) striped vest of Lazytown's number one villain. Surely enough, Robbie was fast asleep, his head resting on the upper corner of his chair and his arms wrapped firmly around her. Every now and then he let out a soft snore, which made her chest feel all warm and fuzzy.

She grinned. She felt comfortable snuggled up with Robbie in his chair, and while it was embarrassing to a certain degree, she realized that she didn't care about that anymore. She just wanted to stay here forever. With that contented thought, she glanced at the clock: 5:24.

"Oh, crapola," she muttered. The barbeque was supposed to start in six minutes, and here she was napping with Robbie! She didn't have time for that! She needed to make sure that everything was ready to go, and help set up the tables and grill, and uhhgh, she really didn't want to move. Not to mention, how was she supposed to get out of this without waking Robbie?

She attempted to slide her way out of his grasp, but quickly realized that wasn't going to work. She tried slightly pulling away from him to coerce him into letting go, but he mumbled something incoherent and tightened his arms around her. She waited a minute before trying to slip out again, but, like before, Robbie mumbled, "Mhmmphm," and tightened his grip. She was trapped.

"Okay, that's not gonna work, apparently," she whispered. With a sigh, she realized that her only other option was to wake him up. "Alright. I can do this. I got things to do." She allowed herself another ten seconds to enjoy the feeling of Robbie's body heat, and then she spoke. "Robbie?" she half-whispered.

He stirred, mumbled, and snored, but he didn't wake up.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Robbie?" she repeated, a little louder.

She received another loud snore in response.

"Alright. I didn't wanna have to do this, but you give me no choice." She lifted her head and tapped his chest with it, not too hard because she didn't want to hurt him, but enough to jostle him awake. "Robbie, wake _up_!" she repeated, this time at normal speaking volume.

For the second time that day, Robbie was forced to wake up. "What?" he snapped sleepily, looking down at her.

Amy gave him a minute to process their situation, fully expecting him to loosen his grip and to allow her to leave. To her pleasant (and also not-so-pleasant due to a time crunch) surprise, he didn't. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around her torso and closed his eyes again. "You, uh, gonna let me go?" Maybe her drawing attention to it would make him realize how weird this was.

Once again, she was proven wrong. "Why?" the villain asked grumpily, still half-asleep.

Well, this was an unexpected twist. Since when had he gotten so bold? Normally she was the one being overly flirty. "Uhm, because I have to go to a barbeque and movie night?"

"So?"

Apparently a sleepy Robbie was a monosyllabic Robbie.

"You're invited too, you know. That's why I came here in the first place. Totally didn't mean to fall asleep like that." She attempted to shift out of his grasp again. His arms remained locked around her, but they gave a little. "Okay, as nice as this is, the barbeque starts in…" she checked the clock, "negative two minutes, which means I'm late, and everyone's gonna wonder where I am, and I'm pretty sure that if we show up together late then they're gonna get the wrong idea."

"What wrong idea?"

Oh, geez. This was not something that she wanted to go into detail about, especially not with the guy she was hardcore crushing on and now sharing a chair-slash-snuggling with. So she ignored his question and moved on. "The point is, I need to go." She forced herself to lean forward (because to be honest, if she stayed like that, she was going to go right back to sleep on him and that was not a good idea right now). Robbie's arms stayed around her, but offered no resistance as she rose up and away from him. She stumbled a bit when she stood—her left leg had fallen asleep. "I'm okay," she said, holding her arms out to keep her balance while she shook her leg out.

She was almost too nervous and embarrassed to look back at Robbie, but she forced herself to. His arms were now crossed over his chest, indicating that he was still sleep-grumpy, and he was actually _pouting_. She couldn't help but laugh at his expression, which caused him to pout even more.

"What's so funny?" he demanded, glaring at the empty spot on his chair.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," she replied with a grin. Maybe things wouldn't be awkward between them after this. "I mean, you just look soooo happy right now."

"It's cold," he grunted by way of response, deliberately avoiding looking at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, it's warm outside, so maybe you should join us."

"Hmmph." He turned his head even further away from her, now staring at the opposite upper corner of the chair.

She shook her head at his stubbornness. "We're starting the movie around 6:30ish in the park. There will be snacks both junk food-y and healthy, and we're all gonna sleep outside under the stars, which you don't have to do if you don't want to. At the very least, tomorrow everyone should be too tired to play a lot, so there's your favor, all dealt with." She rolled her shoulders, stretching out the kinks that had formed when she'd been asleep before turning to leave. She stopped for a moment to glance back at Robbie. "I guess it goes without saying that I hope you'll come hang out with us. It's my favorite movie, and it'll be fun."

She left him as he was, still pouting and not looking at her.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Okay. Wow. Everyone seems so excited for this chapter! I hope everyone likes it! :D**

 **etherealz: I have no idea how you found this, either, but I'm glad you did and that you're liking it! Hooray!**

 **Robbieisawesome: I hope you can get some sleep now, haha. ;)**

 **CryBaby: Oh, thank you so much for your nice words! Your English is fine, haha. :) As for your question, I've seen more of the first two seasons of Lazytown than the reboot with Chloe Lang, so in my head, this takes place more around the second season, which means Bobby, Tobby, and Flobby will not be making an appearance in this fic. Thanks for asking!**

Stephanie had just finished her first hot dog when Amy arrived, flustered and over fifteen minutes late to her own party. She waved her older cousin over to the table where she and the other kids were sitting. "Hey, Amy," she greeted warmly.

"Hey, Steph. And everyone." Amy waved at them, but she seemed kinda jittery. Stephanie watched as she rushed over to their uncle and grabbed a hamburger and rejoined them. She took a bite, but then spent the rest of the time staring at it whilst everyone else talked. Stephanie participated in the conversations, but she kept an eye on Amy out of curiosity. Why was she acting so weird? She jumped anytime one of the other kids asked her a question, and if they mentioned her being late, her cheeks flushed and she changed the subject.

Stephanie's eyes narrowed as she studied her cousin. Something had happened. Something big. Amy kept glancing about as if waiting for someone to show up—and since Robbie Rotten was the only citizen absent, it was clear that was who she was waiting for. But then where was he?

As they all finished eating (or picking at their food, in Amy's case), the kids began to run home and change into pajamas before the movie started. Stephanie tapped on Amy's shoulders to get her attention. "Come on, Amy. Let's go get our stuff."

Amy jumped at her touch, but nodded and got up. She stopped at the dessert table, where an array of fruits and junk food lay, ready to be consumed during the movie. Stephanie raised an eyebrow as Amy grabbed three avocados, but shrugged it off. They made their way to the Meanswell household in silence, but once they got inside, Stephanie couldn't contain herself.

"Is something wrong? You seem…out of it."

Amy flinched at her words. "I'm fine," she replied.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Obviously not. You're jumpy and you're not eating and if I had to take a guess, I would say it has something to do with Robbie Rotten."

"What? No! Robbie? Me? No, we didn't do anything! We definitely did _not_ nap together or anything!" Amy covered her mouth with both hands when she'd finished speaking. "Ohhhhh, you did _not_ just hear me say that!"

Stephanie's eyes widened at her cousin's confession. "WHAT?" she yelled in astonishment, throwing her hands up. "You and Robbie did WHAT?"

Amy rushed forward and covered Stephanie's mouth. "Shhhsh!" she hissed. "I don't want all of Lazytown to find out!"

"Ish 'at iiie oo wer ate?" Stephanie asked, mumbling through the hands. Amy slowly removed them, but gave her a look that indicated Stephanie needed to speak quietly or else. "Is that why you were late?" Stephanie repeated, softer this time.

Amy nodded. "Yeah. I went there to invite him, and I was so tired, and then the next thing I knew, I woke up and we were…snuggling…."

Stephanie gasped. "Really?"

"Yes, Stephanie. Seriously. So that's why I've been nervous, because I'm not sure what to do now, and I don't know what's going on with us, and I don't have time to figure it out right now because we have a movie that's supposed to start in the next fifteen minutes and I still haven't made an avocado milkshake."

"A what?"

"Avocado milkshake. Sheesh, you guys are so healthy and yet you don't know about those?" Amy sighed. "Look, you go change, I'll change and make my shake, and we'll head back to the park together, okay?"

Stephanie nodded. "Okay. Fine."

The two of them split up to change. Amy walked straight into her room and flopped down on the bed. "I cannot believe I just blurted that out," she muttered. She thought back to his reaction after waking up and frowned. "And since when has Robbie acted like that? What is going on?" She sat up with a groan and started rifling through her clothes for her pajamas. She changed into the light green t-shirt and matching fuzzy pants, grabbed her blanket and a pillow, and shoved them into her backpack, then ran to the kitchen, where she found a blender. She quickly plugged it in and began the process of making two avocado milkshakes. By the time Stephanie was ready to go, the shakes were done and poured into lidded cups. The two of them walked back to the park, neither of them saying anything, for which Amy was grateful.

When they arrived, Amy made a beeline for the spot she'd chosen for herself. It was right by the projector, so she could see everything easily. She dropped her backpack and set down one of the milkshakes. Then she ran to a nearby wall, where she'd stacked the folding chairs earlier. She set one up at her spot, then took a moment to observe the kids spreading their sleeping bags in front of the screen. She smiled at the sight and took a sip of her milkshake. It was delicious, as usual, and she sighed in relief. "Well, at least I didn't screw this up," she told herself.

"Screw what up?" Sportacus asked, jumping and landing next to her.

She held up the shake she'd just taken a drink of. "Avocado milkshake."

He smiled. "What's in it?"

"Avocado, milk, sweetened condensed milk, and ice. You know, the usual. Wanna try?" She offered it to him.

"No, thanks," the superhero politely declined.

Amy was about to ask him why when she remembered his anti-sugar policy. "Ohhh, right. Forgot about that. Sorry."

He laughed. "It's okay. But why do you think you messed up today? Look at the kids." He pointed at them as they laughed and chit-chatted and threw popcorn at each other. "They're having a good time."

Amy gave a small nod. "Yeah. I guess that worked out. But it's Robbie I'm worried about."

Sportacus opened his mouth, presumably to ask why. Fortunately, right at that moment she heard Pixel calling for her. Which was fantastic timing on his part because she really did not want to have this conversation with the superhero.

"Amy! Ready to start?"

"Yeah, Pixel! Gimme a sec!" She lifted her shake in a farewell to Sportacus, who smiled, and made her way to the front of the screen. When they'd been setting up earlier, Pixel had asked her if she wanted to introduce the movie before they started, and she'd agreed. She looked down at the kids' faces and grinned. "Alright, guys. Tonight we're gonna watch possibly my favorite movie of all time: Mary Poppins!" The kids cheered. "Has anyone seen it already?"

"Nope!" she heard Ziggy yell, making her laugh.

"I don't think any of us have," Trixie added.

"Well, you're in for a treat, then," Amy replied with a grin. "It's an older movie, so it may look a little dated, but trust me. It's good."

"What's it about?" Ziggy asked, raising a fistful of lollipops.

Amy scanned her audience to make sure she had their attention. She glanced at Sportacus, who gave her a thumbs up and nodded his head slightly. She followed his head tilt, and saw something that made her grin grow even wider.

Somehow, during the short amount of time she'd been talking, Robbie had arrived and was setting up his orange chair right next to her things. She stared at the purple villain, who was wearing the striped nightgown and cap that she'd seen in one of his costume tubes. As if he felt her eyes on him, he looked up at her. His face twitched, visible in the falloff light of the projector. She had enough time to wonder if he was still mad at her, and then he smiled shyly.

"You'll just have to see," she finally answered, still keeping her eyes on Robbie's.

Her mini-introduction finished, she got out of the way of the screen and gave a thumbs up to Pixel, who pressed a button on his wristwatch. The familiar opening titles began to play while Amy walked back to her spot, where Robbie stood awkwardly. "You made it," she said quietly, still grinning.

Robbie huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, it would seem that I can't say no to a certain…green person," he replied gruffly. "And believe me, I have tried."

Amy laughed. "Obviously you're not trying hard enough," she told him before suddenly throwing her arms around the skinny man and hugging him. "I'm glad you came."

This time, he didn't hesitate to hug her back. "I am too, Greenie."

Neither of them noticed the two sets of eyes belonging to a blue sports elf and a nosy pink-haired girl that were watching them and smiling at the sight. They ended their hug and turned to sit in their chairs. Amy noticed that there was about a foot between her chair and Robbie's, so, in a spur of boldness, she scooted it close enough that they were touching. She winked at Robbie, who flinched slightly, although he was still smiling. Then she retrieved her milkshakes and sat down. Robbie reached down on the opposite side of his chair and lifted up a huge bowl of popcorn. Amy gave him an inquisitive look, and he rolled his eyes in response before pushing the bowl closer to her. She still had to reach for it, since their chairs were at different heights, but she didn't care. She grabbed a handful and shoved it in her mouth before taking another sip of her shake.

"What are you drinking and why is it green?" she heard him ask in a tone that indicated he was seriously concerned for her health.

"Milkshake. Wanna try?" She grabbed the other shake and offered it to him. He eyed it suspiciously.

"A milkshake?"

"Yeah."

"Why is it green, though?"

"Because I like green things. Are you gonna try it or not?"

He took the offered drink and examined it before tentatively taking a sip. And another. And another.

Amy smirked. "Like it?"

"Mmm-hmm. It doesn't taste like a milkshake I've ever had before, though…"

She took a long, deliberate drink of her shake before responding. "Yeah, that's because it has avocados in it."

"Avocados?"

"You know, the fruit?"

"WHAT?"

"Shhsh!" one of the kids hissed from up front.

Amy tried to laugh as quietly as possible. She wasn't as successful as she wanted to be, but fortunately it didn't prompt any more shushes from the kids.

"Are you _trying_ to _kill_ me?" Robbie demanded quietly, giving her a look of betrayal.

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen. You're fine. You like it." She reached for the popcorn bowl, which he promptly moved to the opposite side. "Robbie, what are you doooing?"

"No more popcorn for you, Greenie."

"Fine. Then give me the shake back."

"No."

"Don't make me come over there."

Robbie stuck out his tongue at her in response. She narrowed her eyes at him before jumping up and running to the dessert table. Once there, she grabbed a paper plate and several delicious snacks, as well as a waterbottle and two cans of soda. Somehow, she managed to get back to her seat without spilling anything. She set down everything except one of Stephanie's cupcakes, which she began to slowly eat, feeling Robbie's eyes on her. She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow tauntingly.

He threw a handful of popcorn at her in retaliation. Several pieces landed in her lap, so she just threw them back at him, and thus a popcorn war began, at least until Mrs. Banks started to sing about her suffragette movement, which forced Amy to stop so she could sing along softly (like you wouldn't sing along to your favorite movie if you were watching it, be honest), although somehow she managed to hit Robbie directly between the eyes with a chocolate candy the exact moment the song ended.

By the time Mr. Banks was singing about the life he led, a truce had been made, and the bowl of popcorn (which was already almost empty) once again lay between the two of them. Amy handed Robbie a cupcake, which he accepted and began munching on immediately. "Those kids are nothing but trouble," he whispered through a mouthful of cake.

"You haven't even met them yet!"

"So? They're running around. I already don't like them."

Amy threw another piece of candy at him. "I think you're biased."

He scoffed but made no response, at least until the kids approached with their nanny advertisement. "Are they going to _sing_?" he whined.

"Are you going to talk the whole time? Because if you are, I'm seriously going to smack you."

"You wouldn't."

"You know I will."

"…"

Robbie was silent again, and Amy mentally cheered at her victory. Of course, that didn't stop him for long, as soon he began commenting on everything under his voice, which she could very clearly hear:

"An umbrella? That's unrealistic. I should know."

"What sort of a name is Mary Poppins?"

"Is _she_ going to start singing now?"

" _How_ is she _doing_ that?!"

Laughing at his comments, she continued to share her dessert horde with Robbie (which was why she'd grabbed so much in the first place), although she caught him slurping on the avocado milkshake a few times when he thought she wasn't watching. Occasionally, she would spare a glance at the kids, who were gasping at all the nifty little tricks that Mary was capable of. She smiled at their reactions, remembering the first time she'd watched the movie and been amazed at everything.

She finished her soda and got up to grab another, as well as another bag of popcorn. On her way back to her chair, she passed Sportacus, who was doing jumping jacks as he watched. "You having fun there?" she asked.

Sportacus paused to answer her. "Of course! Are you?"

"Yep!"

"The kids seem to be enjoying it, too. What about Robbie?"

"I think he's enjoying it in his own way." She looked in his direction and saw the dark shape of him holding his hands out in exasperation as the four main characters jumped into the chalk drawing. "Oh, this is my favorite part! Gotta go!" She saluted Sportacus with her soda and skipped back to her chair.

Robbie turned to face her as she sat back down. He opened his mouth to speak, but Amy cut him off. "This is my favorite part!" She pointed at the screen. "I just love Mary's dress here. And Bert's suit is cute, too." She grinned at Robbie. "I could totally see you wearing that," she teased, expecting him to roll his eyes or say something sarcastic in response. Instead, he stared at her thoughtfully. "What?" she asked after a few seconds, feeling a little awkward at how intently he was staring.

Robbie shook his head. "Nothing," he said. She frowned at his reply, but didn't press the matter. Instead, she simply opened the bag of popcorn and dumped it into the bowl. As the movie progressed, their hands occasionally brushed each other in the popcorn bowl. The first couple of times it happened, they pulled their hands away quickly. By the fourth or fifth time, they were fighting with each other's hands to get the quickly-dwindling popcorn. When there was only one more handful left, Amy's hand grabbed it first, but Robbie simply grabbed her hand and didn't let go.

"You really want the popcorn, don't you?" she whispered to him.

In actuality, Robbie had stopped caring about the popcorn a few mouthfuls ago. Instead, all he cared about right now was his hand covering Amy's. He smirked at his accomplished mission, ignoring Amy's query. He was tempted to ask her to join him on the chair, but then remembered that not only were the kids of Lazytown there as witnesses, but Sportaloon was there as well. It was one thing to share his chair in his lair, but another to do it out in public.

So for now, he would have to be content with simply holding her hand. Well, that and his movie commentary, which he was purposefully saying loud enough for her to hear in order to make her laugh.

As ridiculous as the movie was, he found himself enjoying it. Or maybe he was enjoying Amy's reaction to it. She kept singing along softly to the songs and bouncing her foot to the music, something he found rather endearing once he got used to it.

"Robbie? Are you still awake?" Amy whispered as the credits rolled across the screen.

"What? Yeah," came his response.

"Didja like it?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Are you just saying that because you don't want me to feel bad?"

"Mmm-mmm."

"Are you sure you're awake?"

"Mmm-hmm."

She smiled to herself. "I know I said it before, but I'm really glad you came tonight." She yawned. "And I'm sorry about the whole nap thing. I was really tired from getting everything ready for tonight, and—"

"Stop right there, Greenie. You don't need to explain yourself."

Amy frowned. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry if it made you feel weird or anything." She heard Robbie snort. "What?" She sat up in her chair to face him.

Robbie was splayed out on his chair, obviously comfortable and ready to fall asleep at any moment. But when he saw her sitting up, he mimicked her position. "Did it make _you_ feel weird?" he asked quietly.

Amy was glad it was dark enough that he couldn't see how red her face was getting. "No," she admitted. "I liked it."

She didn't need to see Robbie's face to hear the smile in his voice. "Me too!" he said happily.

"Cool." She stretched and began gathering the trash from her and Robbie's snacking. Once she'd made a pile, she rose from her chair and picked it up. "Be right back."

"Okay."

She carried the trash to the nearest trash can and tossed it in. Then she did a quick lap around the kids, who were all sound asleep. She smiled at the sight of her snoozing cousin amongst her friends, and snorted when she saw Stingy holding his piggy bank even in sleep. She made her way back to Robbie as quietly as she could, taking care to step around the kids. "Okay, so I'm gonna clear off the dessert table real quick," she whispered to him. To her pleasant surprise, he jumped up next to her.

"Need help?"

"Oh, uhm, I mean, I can do it. I'm the one who planned it all, so I can clean it up."

Robbie scoffed and crossed his arms. "I'm helping, and you can't stop me!"

She giggled. "Fine. Be that way." Together, the two of them walked over to the dessert table. There were a few containers that the delicious treats had been carried in, so they started placing any leftovers into the containers. Well, Amy did, at least. Robbie ate two more cupcakes in the time it took her to gather all the excess sportscandy, and reached for a third as she started packing away the few cupcakes that were left. She managed to snatch the snack away from him before he could get it, though, which resulted in him frowning and trying to steal it back from her. She jumped back from him, holding the cupcake away from his long arms. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on if you were Robbie or Amy), he was a tall guy, so try as Amy might, she couldn't get the cupcake far enough away from him, and after a minute, the villain had managed to take the treat back. Amy attempted to grab it once again, but Robbie's height gave him an advantage. All he had to do was hold his arm straight up. Amy tried jumping up to it, which didn't work, so, naturally, she placed a hand on his chest and tried to propel herself higher. That failed as well, so she gave up with a huff and resumed clearing off the table while Robbie ate the cupcake in triumph.

"Alright, let's get these back home, unless you want to just eat the rest." Amy gave him a sarcastic glare.

He grabbed the container of cupcakes off the table. "Don't tempt me, Greenie," he sneered as he started to walk towards the Meanswell house.

He sensed her movement behind him, but sensing it and avoiding it were two different things, so although he could feel that she was about to do something, he couldn't react to it in time, and before he knew it, Amy had yanked his nightcap off and run ahead of him, a bag of leftover sportscandy in one hand and his cap in the other.

"Hey! That's mine!" he yelled quietly, taking off after her. She turned back to look at him and grinned, which spurred him on more.

"I thought you _hated_ running," she said, the familiar glint of mischief in her eyes.

Robbie narrowed his eyes at her, but rather than respond, simply tried to run faster and catch her.

She beat him to the Meanswell house, not that he was surprised. When he joined her, she was standing by the front door, smirking and swinging the cap back and forth lazily.

"Give me that!" he snapped, grabbing his cap from her and placing it on his head. "Don't you know you're not supposed to take things that don't belong to you?"

"Yeah, well, look who's talking, Mr. Steals-All-The-Healthy-Stuff," she replied sassily. He glared at her, but she just laughed and held up a finger to her lips. "Shhsh, we don't wanna wake up my uncle. Just follow me and be careful not to make any sound."

Robbie disregarded her warning, reaching for the door and opening it. It didn't even creak, he noticed proudly as he stepped into the house. It was mostly dark, but a dim light was on in the kitchen, which illuminated the area enough for him to see the counter and set the container of cupcakes gingerly on it. His job done without making even a single sound, he placed his hands on his hips and turned to Amy, who was dumping the bag of sportscandy onto the counter with a soft 'thud'. "Shhhsh," he whispered sarcastically at the sound.

Amy glared at him. "Don't even," she mouthed, holding up a finger at him. The two of them snuck back outside, with Amy closing the door softly behind them.

"No one's sneakier than _me_ ," Robbie couldn't help but brag.

"Whatever. Don't make me steal your hat again."

Robbie reached up with both hands to ensure that she wasn't about to follow through on her threat, which made her laugh. "Mine," he said.

"Fine, _Stingy_."

"Whatever… _Pinkie_."

"Villain."

"Do-gooder."

"Chin Boy."

"Greenie."

"…yeah, I can't think of any other insults right now."

"Me neither."

By the time they got back to the park, the movie had automatically restarted. None of the kids had woken up, however, and rather than turn it off, Amy found the other remote (the one that wasn't on Pixel's wrist) and just turned the volume down a little bit. Robbie flopped down onto his chair, making sure to face hers so that they could continue to talk when she was done adjusting the volume. He did not expect her to instead just jump onto his chair with him, which was exactly what she did after pulling a blanket out of her backpack.

"Uhm, Greenie? What are you doing?" he asked, confused.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she replied as she made herself comfortable, turning sideways to better see his face. "It's late, the movie's restarting so we might as well watch it again, and I'm cold."

Robbie had no response to that, so he said nothing.

That, however, must've been a reply of some sort to Amy, because she glanced at the movie screen and back at him. "Is this okay with you?" she asked, much less boldly than her previous statement had been.

Robbie swallowed and nodded.

"Cool." She returned her gaze to the movie, humming along as the kids once more sang about the perfect nanny. "Robbie?"

"Yeah?"

He heard the humor in her sleepy voice. "You can put your arm around me if you want."

Robbie blinked. How had she known he was thinking about doing that? He mentally shrugged it off and placed his arm around her. Immediately (and still watching the screen), Amy moved so that her head was once more resting on his chest.

"This okay?" she murmured.

"Y-yeah," he replied, "but what if they wake up? I mean…are you okay with that?"

"What do ya mean?"

Robbie started tapping his hands against the armrests nervously. "I just—I mean, I'm supposed to be the villain, and you're not, you're Amy, and if everyone sees us…" he swallowed, " _together_ …then they might think it's weird or somethin'."

Amy lifted her head to look up at him. Her body language indicated that she was about to fall asleep at any moment, but her eyes were bright and wide open. "Robbie," she said, her voice soft but firm, "I stopped caring about what everyone else might think when I saw you tonight. If I actually cared about what the kids would think, then I wouldn't be here." She nuzzled his chest to prove her point. "Besides, I'm selfish—I want to stay here and snuggle because you're warm and cute and I like you."

Robbie's favorite movie of all time was "Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas". He identified with the Grinch on a deep level, well, until the end when he completely changed his ways just because of a little girl. That was always something he'd thought was stupid. The Grinch had it good, all alone in his cave. Why would he suddenly feel any differently? Robbie had never understood, although there had been various points in time where he'd felt a little of that… _feeling_ (for lack of a better word), like when the kids had bought him a Christmas present last year, or when the perky pink girl had written nice stuff about him in her diary.

But when he heard Amy's words, had he thought about it hard enough, he might've realized this must've been how the Grinch felt when he realized that what Christmas was all about. Something melted warmly inside of him, making him feel toasty and tingly and oh, was he supposed to say something now? Amy was staring at him and her mouth was moving.

"Robbie? You okay?" she was asking.

He felt his face twitch into a huge grin. Amy had literally just admitted that she liked him! How could he _not_ be okay after hearing that? "Did you just admit that you _like_ me?" he asked, wanting to hear the words again.

She grinned. "It would seem so, wouldn't it?" she said coyly. He just continued to grin goofily at her. "Are you okay with that?"

He nodded frantically at her, which made her laugh. "Can I take that as you saying that you like me, too?"

He continued to nod frantically, afraid to say it out loud because knowing him, he'd flub the words. Her grin grew wider as well, and she wrapped her arms around his torso in a hug. "Awesome."

He wrapped his other arm around her and repositioned himself so that his chin was resting on her head. He lifted it up momentarily as she turned her head back towards the movie screen, then set it down once more. Immediately, Amy started humming along to the song that was currently playing.

A few minutes later, her eyes were closed, but she continued to hum while he watched the rest of the movie, occasionally tapping his fingers lightly on her arms to the beat of some of the catchier tunes.

Eventually, the both of them fell asleep like that, arms still wrapped around each other, Amy's head on Robbie's chest and his head on hers. The movie ended and the projector eventually shut off due to inactivity, leaving all the sleeping persons in the park in comfortable summer darkness.

 **Is that fluffy enough for y'all?**


End file.
